The Moment We Come Alive
by Squibbles94
Summary: Elizabeth has known the Winchesters for years and has become a sister to them after they saved her life. She is a hunter like them, but she is also in college trying to have a normal life, boyfriend included. Balancing the two, especially as an honorary Winchester, is hard.
1. Chapter 1

The night sky glittered with a thousand stars. Elizabeth wasn't used to seeing so many stars and it was at that moment, looking up at the tiny diamonds, that she decided she didn't want to go home. It was so peaceful here and there was no office work, relationship drama, or people making her feel like she was useless. It was just … peaceful.

She stretched out on the hood of her car, it was an old rust bucket that she inherited when her grandmother died. It had seen her through a lot: her first date, graduation, her first two years of university, and many breakups. It was always there as a token of her grandmother. She had insisted Elizabeth take the car because, as her grandmother put it, she was the most responsible of the grandchildren.

Elizabeth smiled at the thought and sighed. Hopping off the hood, she took one last look at the stars before turning to head to the trunk. She opened the back and shifted the false bottom to reveal an array of weapons. Over the years she had collected many artifacts and charms, which were stashed in the trunk with her holy water, guns, and knives. She was not what most would consider an organized person in most areas of her life, but in this, she was meticulous. Nothing was worse than reaching for a weapon and no knowing where it was while time slipped away. Especially when people were in danger and time was of the essence.

She grabbed her handgun and made sure there were bullets in it. They would not do much for her tonight, but it was always good to keep, just in case. Satisfied that she had extra protection, she placed the gun in her waistband behind her and covered it with her jacket. Might as well keep it hidden for as long as possible. She gingerly grabbed a silver knife and held it in her hands, admiring the craftmanship. Silver would help her with most things and again, it was good to have just in case. She tucked the blade into her right boot, making sure it did not fall out and covered it, pulling her jeans over the top of her boots. She also, grabbed two syringes filled with red liquid and placed them in her left pocket.

She scanned her trunk for the thing she needed most right now. She never could get over how beautiful her 18" serrated machete looked and how it felt in her hand. She smiled at it as she held it up. "Hi there, sweetpea." She crooned to it in her slightly Southern accent. Honestly, if someone from her normal life were to see the effect that blades, and guns had on her, they would probably lock her up.

Chuckling to herself, she strapped the blade to her leg in its holster. No use carrying it all the way to the house. Taking a swig of water that she knew she needed, Elizabeth started walking north to the house, ready for a fight. She pulled her red hair up into a ponytail as she walked. Pulling the band tight in her hair, she let her hair cascade down her back, making it swing back and forth as she walked. It was always better to have her hair up on hunts because there was just too much movement to keep worrying about it getting into her face.

She kept to the shadows as she walked down the path to the house. Honesty, the walk was just getting her pumped up for what she was about to do. Not to mention, a car would make her presence known, so she decided against driving here. As she approached the house, she crouched down in the tall grass. The sun was starting to rise, and she knew her moment was coming soon. She tried to see something, anything really, that would indicate that the monsters were still inside. She glanced at the tree line on the other side of the house and saw a flash of chrome. Squinting, she made out the shape of a car. She could see it was black and she instantly recognized the car. Sighing, she shook her head. 'I knew those two would be here. Why am I even surprised?' She thought to herself.

Moving slow, she decided it was as good a time as any to get the job done. Making her way to the house, she made sure to stay low, so no one would see her. She peeked through one of the windows, when she reached the back of the house and her heart almost stopped. There were three of them that she could see. She was not expecting that, but what made her stop was two familiar figured sitting in chairs.

Sam and Dean were tied up and she could see they were trying to get free by the subtle way they shifted their shoulders. To anyone else, it would look like they were trying to stretch out their shoulders, but she knew they were trying to get out of the binds. They looked like they tried to go in guns blazing and got into quite the fight. There was blood trickling down Sam's right eyebrow and Dean had a busted lip. She knew there were probably bruises from the fight that she couldn't see.

She knew that she had to get at least one of the creatures alone to be able to have a chance. Taking a deep breath and cursing herself for what she was about to do, she kicked the side of the house, announcing her presence. She ducked down behind the stairs and waited, unlatching her machete and getting ready for the fight.

A lone figure stepped out from the house and turned the corner looking around. He walked past her and stopped, smelling her scent. She jumped out from her hiding place as he turned around to see her. He opened his mouth revealing rows of jagged teeth and hissed at her. Before he could react, she brought the blade up, holding it in both hands, and swung. His head toppled to the floor before he could take a step. She stood for a second, shaking her head. 'Damn vampires' she thought.

She peeked through the window again to see what was happening. The boys were still trying to get out of their bonds while the two remaining vampires talked to each other. One had dark hair and looked to be in his early twenties. He was about three inches taller than her and not very intimidating. The other one was huge. He had to be over 6'2 and had muscles for days. He was going to be an issue. She smirked when she saw that they looked worried. 'That's right. Be scared.' She thought. She decided to try her plan again and kicked the side of the house.

Both vampires looked at the window, but Elizabeth crouched down before they could see her. She hid in her same spot for what seemed like forever. "Shit." She muttered to herself. She knew they were not falling for it, which meant she was going to have to fight both. She stood up from her place underneath the stairs and headed for the door. Might as well go in with a bang.

She kicked at the door, sending if flying open with a crack. Stepping in, she couldn't help it. She called out, "Honey, I'm home!" and headed into the main room. The shocked look from the boys was enough to make her laugh but before she could, the vamps started to move toward her. The dark haired one tried to grab her by the shoulders, teeth bared, but she stepped to the side and kicked at him, making him lose his balance. The bigger one came toward her and swung at her, only to hit the wall when she ducked down. She swung the blade up to meet his neck, but he caught her arm, squeezing it tightly. She kicked him in his knee, shocking him enough for him to let her arm go and topple to the ground.

She was grabbed from behind and she realized that she forgot about the other vamp. His arms wrapped around her, pinning her arms down. She snapped her head back, making pain shoot through her skull but also making the vampire lose his hold on her. Quickly spinning around, she swung the blade and his head toppled to the ground.

"Watch out!" She heard someone scream to her. Before she could react, there was pain shooting through her head as someone hit her. She fell to the ground and landed on her knees hard. A hand grabbed her shoulder and flipped her over, pushing her to the ground. He grabbed the machete out of her hand and threw it beyond her reach. It was the big vampire and he was pissed. His foot came down on her stomach, making her lose her breath and cry out.

"Dammit!" She heard Dean yell from across the room. She tried to get up and crawl away, but the vampire held her in place. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her toward him, baring his teeth.

"You killed my family, you bitch. Now I get to eat you. Then I get to kill them." He growled, nodding to the boys. Before she could do anything, he twisted her head to the right, brought his head down to her neck and she felt his teeth break through her skin. The pain was unbearable, and she screamed in agony. Thankfully, he didn't hold down her left arm and she was able to slip her hand inside her pocket. She felt around for the syringe and took the plastic cap off. Her vision was starting to go blurry when she jammed the needle into his side and pushed down on the plunger.

The vampire let her go and looked down on her. "Dead man's blood, you bastard." She sneered at him. He struggled to breathe for a second before falling on top of her. Shit, he was heavy. He knocked the wind out of her and she struggled to breathe. She wiggled under him slowly getting herself loose. He stayed on the ground, seemingly in a daze, while she reached her machete and picked it up. She sauntered over to him, and brought the blade down on his neck, sending blood spattering over her. She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself. She brought her hand up to her neck and it came away bloody. She was losing a lot of blood, but that didn't matter right then.

She turned to Sam and Dean, who were looking at her with mouths slightly open. "Hello, boys. Didja miss me?" She smiled at them.

"Dammit Lizzy, just get us out of here." Dean's voice was rough, and she could tell he didn't like the fact that she had saved them.

"Alright, I guess so." She said, exaggerating her words. She went over to Sam and cut him loose, then turned to Dean. She shook her head as she cut his bindings. "I thought you guys were better than this. How'd they get the drop on you anyway, and since when can't you get out of ropes?" She asked them.

"Well, we took down two of them and they just got the drop on us." Sam told her, almost ashamed. "As for the ropes, we would have gotten out eventually."

Dean was shaking out his arms, letting the blood flow back into them when he glanced at her. His face went from looking irritated to worried. His eyes focused on her neck and he cursed under his breath. He walked over to her in two long strides, which to be honest didn't surprise her, seeing as he was so damn tall. He took her face in his hands and looked her up and down. "You okay, Lizzy?" He asked in a rough voice. Always worried about her.

"Yeah, I'm good. Nothing a drink won't fix." She told him, trying to brush it off. She knew she lost a lot of blood, but she didn't want to come across as weak.

Dean just stared at her, shaking his head slightly. He reached around her head and took something from Sam. A rag, she noticed. She thought he was going to wipe his face with it, but she forgot that she had a hole in her neck. He pressed it to her neck and the pressure made her wince. "Keep pressure on that." He told her, like she didn't know. "Can't have you bleeding everywhere."

She rolled her eyes and turned to look at Sam only to find that he wasn't there. She furrowed her eyebrows and started to ask Dean where he was but Dean, of course knew what she was going to ask. "He went to go get your car. You're staying with us for a bit until we get you patched up." He told her, leaving no room for arguments. She sighed and decided to give into his requests. She knew once he and Sam decided they were going to protect her, there was nothing she could do.

She went to follow Dean out to the Impala, but she only took three steps when she lost her balance. She grabbed the wall to steady herself as Dean looked back. "Come on, you big baby." He told her, reaching to help her. "I got it." She snapped at him, trying to walk on her own again. She made it a few more steps when she got dizzy and had to stop.

"Yeah, sure you do." Dean mumbled and walked over to her. Before she could protest, she was in his arms and he was carrying her. Grumbling, she let him carry her to the Impala and set her down next to it. She sat down in the car and waited for him to climb in the driver's seat. 'Well, this is going to be fun.' She thought to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Home sweet home." Dean declared as they pulled up to the bunker. Elizabeth smiled at the building sitting in front of them, remembering the first time they brought her here. She thought they were playing with her when they said they inherited an underground bunker that contained books on every subject known to the hunting community. The building, from the outside, looked like a large rundown factory with many broken windows and rust covering most of the building. When she stepped inside, nothing could hold in her gasp as she saw the old-style computers along the wall and the space that was the bunker. When Sam brought her into the library, she thought she was going to have a stroke. It was magnificent, and she couldn't wait to start reading about the lore that the space contained.

Now, as she was ushered into the hospital wing of the bunker, she was relieved that they had this place. When they saved her five years ago, they were still running around in Baby going from Motel to Motel, which left them without proper materials to patch people up. Dean flitted around the area, grabbing medical tape and gauze while she sat on the bed keeping pressure on her neck.

"Hey, do you remember when we first met?" She asked Dean.

He chuckled, taking a seat next to the bed, getting the materials in order. "Yeah. I do. You punched me so hard, I had a migraine for a week."

She smiled at the memory. "Hey, I didn't know that you weren't one of those assholes who had me. I was blindfolded, remember? I regret nothing." She said defending herself.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." He paused for a long time. "I was proud of you though. I mean, the Hell you went through, and you still fought." He chuckled lightly.

"You can't keep me down, Winchester." She told him

"Uh huh." His voice sounded distracted, so she looked at his face, wondering what was going on. He was looking down on her shoulder and she saw that he was looking at a bruise.

"Yeah, that crazy ass vamp got me good." She said quickly.

"Except," Dean looked her in the eye, "This isn't the shoulder he grabbed, and it looks older than the ones you got today." The unspoken question lingered in the air.

"Must have happened on another hunt." Elizabeth told him, shrugging.

"Uh huh." Was all Dean said. He finished patching up the hole in her neck and told her that she was done. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

"I know. There's nothing to tell though." Sliding off the table, she gathered her things and started to walk out with Dean. "Thanks for the hospital treatment but I gotta get going."

"Woah, already? You just got here. Anyways, you lost a lot of blood and I don't think you should be driving." He told her with a look that said she wasn't going anywhere.

She pursed her lips and considered. She needed to get back home soon. She told Scott that she was only going to be gone for a couple of days and he would probably be freaked out if she wasn't home by tomorrow. "Fine, but I need to let Scott know that I won't be home tonight."

"Oh, that's right. How is the douchebag?" Dean said with fire behind his eyes.

"I wish you wouldn't call him that." She sighed.

"Call who what?" She heard Sam call out as they entered the kitchen. Glaring at Dean, Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer but Dean cut her off.

"Lizzy's flame. The chocolate to her peanut butter. The douche." Dean says, earning a smack to his shoulder.

"Stop. If you want me to stay you gotta cool it on the names. Please, Dean." She pleaded.

Dean pursed his lips like he was trying to think about a difficult math problem. Finally, he shrugged and went to grab a beer.

Elizabeth sat down with Sam at the table and looked at him. It was the first chance she had to really look at him and she noticed the sag in his shoulders. "You okay, Sam?" She asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm good. You?" Sam put a smile on his face and straightened his shoulders.

Elizabeth nodded and looked around. "Hey, where's Kevin?" She suddenly noticed that the cute Asian boy wasn't around anywhere. She had only met Kevin a few times, but he made an impression on her and she worried about him. Anyone living with the Winchesters full time was to be worried about.

Sam and Dean exchanged glances and stayed silent. "Hello?" She called to them.

"He's, uh, not here." Sam finally told her.

"Yeah, I got that, Sherlock. Where is he?" She asked again.

"He's somewhere safe. Working." Dean told her.

"On what?" Pulling information out of these two was like pulling teeth.

"He's translating the demon tablet. We think… we can close the gates of Hell." Sam told her hesitantly. Elizabeth ran what he said through her brain again, not sure if she heard him right.

"The gates? Of Hell? Close them? Are you guys high or something?" She looked at the two of them, worried.

"Generally, no." Dean and his smartass mouth was making her irritated.

"What the hell?" She asked. She paused for a while, letting the information sink in. Did that mean that everything nasty would be stuck where it was, and they could kill all those who were topside? How was this possible? "How though?"

Sam shifted, looking uncomfortable, avoiding her eyes. "Sam?" She accused.

"There are trials. Um. There are three trials that someone has to do and it acts as like, a lock and key type deal." Sam told her.

"Please tell me you idiots are not doing what I think you are doing." Her tone betrayed her exasperation. When they didn't answer, and Dean took a long swig from his beer, she lost it. "Who is it?"

Sam raised his hand ever so slightly while she glared at him. "Are you kidding me? This is dangerous, Sam! Do you even know the consequences to this?" She was raising her voice and she knew she was being unreasonable.

"Okay, hold on." Dean shouted over her raising his hand to make a point. "I know you haven't been around lately but there are bigger things right now than you being mad at us. Whatever the consequences, we'll handle it."

Elizabeth stood up from her chair and walked over to Dean, until she was inches away from him. "Do you not remember the consequences last time one of you decided to sacrifice yourselves for the greater good?" She asked in an icy tone. "Because I do. How many more times am I going to have to bury the two of you?"

Dean sighed, and his expression softened. "Look, Lizzy. It's going to be okay. We can handle this. No one is dying here."

"Right." Is all she said as she walked out of the room. No one followed her, which was a good thing. She needed to call Scott anyway. She walked into the library and sat at one of the plush red chairs in the corner of the room and took out her cellphone.

She took a deep breath calming her nerves before she hit the speed dial to Scott's number and pushed the send button. He answered in two rings, like he was waiting by the phone for her to call. It came off as sweet that he was worried about her.

"Liz?" He answered.

"Hey, handsome." She started, "I wanted to let you know that I was going to be home tomorrow instead of today."

She heard him sigh into the phone and braced herself for his response.

"Seriously? I thought you were coming back tonight." He sounded angry, but he kept his volume down.

"I know. I ran into Sam and Dean and they offered to cook me dinner. I haven't seen them in a while, so I thought I would stay the night at their place." She told him, trying to let him know that she was going to be okay.

"So, let me get this straight. You tell me that you are going to be home tonight from this mystery trip that you wouldn't let me go on. Then you call to tell me, after I planned a nice meal for us, that you are not coming back until tomorrow. And you are staying with two guys alone? Does that cover it?" He asked with sarcasm dripping into his voice.

"It's not like that. You've met Sam and Dean and you know they're just like my brothers. Nothing is going on with us, I just miss them is all." She was trying to calm him down while keeping her voice quiet.

"You know, you can be really ungrateful." His words bit at her. "I haven't heard from you all day and when you finally do call, it's to tell me you lied to me when you left."

"I'm sorry." She whispered into the phone. Everything was getting twisted and she didn't know what else to do to make it better.

"I just worry about you, Liz. I don't want you to go on one of these trips and I get a call saying you died. It would kill me if I lost you, babe." His tone sounded more in control and sorrowful. He was worried and that's why he was angry. Worry can do a lot to a person, she knew.

"I'm gonna be fine. Promise. I'll call you when I leave in the morning, so you know what time I will be home." She told him. "I love you."

"You too, Liz." He told her, is usual affirmation, before the line disconnected.

She sighed and stared down at her phone. He would get over it, she knew. It was just hard balancing a normal life and this life. Sometimes she felt guilty about lying to him, but in the end, it was for his own good. She dropped her phone into her lap, leaned forward, and put her head in her hands.

"Everything okay?" Elizabeth looked up, placing a small smile on her lips, seeing Dean lean against one of the tables. He had a glass in his hand filled with amber liquid.

"It's great. Scott says hi." She told him, standing up. She walked over to the whiskey they kept in the library and poured some in a glass. She downed it in one swig and poured another generous helping. She turned around to see Dean staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing. Just, I don't think I've ever seen you drink more than a beer." He told her with accusing eyes.

"It's been like what? Four months since we've seen each other? I do a lot that you don't see, Winchester." She told him, with a smirk.

"Thank God for that. Though, you know. I wouldn't complain if I saw more of you, kid." He walked up to her slowly and stopped when he was in arms reach.

"I know. I've just been busy, you know." She said with a shrug. "College is going well, by the way. Thanks for asking."

"College. Jeez. You're still in that thing?" He was teasing her, and she knew it.

"Yeah, Because someone has to take time off every couple of semesters to save her idiot brothers because they have their heads in their asses." She quipped at him. "Anyway. I'm beat. I'm gonna hit it."

"Alright, kid. You remember where to go?" he asked her.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot. And stop calling me kid. It's bad enough you talked me into letting you call me Lizzy. I draw the line at kid." She corrected his nicknames like she as a hundred times before. Nothing ever really sticks with him, but she had to admit, it was kind of endearing knowing that Dean and Sam Winchester had her back.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth woke up to the sound of someone singing down the hall. It took her a second to realize it was Dean, being obnoxious. She sighed and decided to get up and pack her things for the long drive ahead.

Stepping into the kitchen, she made her way over to the coffee, pouring her a cup and adding sugar and cream to it.

"Ugh, Lizzy. Seriously? Stop ruining perfectly good coffee with that crap." She heard Dean's voice chime behind her. She turned to see he was in a bathrobe sipping on a cup of coffee.

To spite him, she picked up the sugar container and poured a bit more sugar in, watching him grimace. She brought it to her lips and took a long sip, making moaning noises. "So good." She told him, smacking her lips.

"You're disgusting." He told her with the grimace still on his face. "Also, I never want to hear you make those noises again. There's only so much I can handle before I puke."

She laughed and left the room to finish her packing.

It was about two hours later when she had her belongings stuffed into her beat up Chrysler Sebring. Sam helped her with her bags then he shut the door turning to her.

"Let us know when you made it. Stay out of trouble." He chided her.

"Do I ever?" She asked him with a smirk.

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "Guess not." He leaned over and wrapped her in a monster of a hug. The fact that he could envelop her entire body was still a shocker to her.

She turned to Dean to say goodbye, but he put up a hand to stop her.

"I know, you're gonna miss us. Best things that ever happened to you. Please. No tears." He said, being his usual sarcastic self.

"You ass." She said as she punched him lightly on the arm. He pulled her into a hug and she felt a kiss on her forehead.

"Take care of yourself, Lizzy. Let us know if you need us." He reminded her as she climbed into her car and pulled away.

Elizabeth ended up getting home the next night in time to cook dinner for her and Scott. She decided to make up for skipping out on him the night before. Honestly, she felt more at home with the Winchester's than she did here, but she vowed to live a somewhat normal life. Going to college for her lit major helped her do that, of course Scott was another perk of having a normal life.

They met almost a year ago and had been living with him for two months. It took everything she had to not get him mixed up in the hunting life. So far, all he knew was that she was a lit major and she worked at the local library. It was only part time and she was friends with her boss, so taking time off wasn't an issue as long as she pulled some double shifts when she got back. He thought she was away for work, which technically she was. Just not for the library.

Sometimes she came home feeling guilty about lying to him, but she couldn't lose him. He was charming and handsome, honestly the best-looking guy to ever go after her. He took care of her and made sure no one hurt her. He had a temper, but then again so did she, so she didn't fault him for it. He was the best thing that happened to her, besides the Winchester's that is.

He stepped into the kitchen as she was taking the roast out of the oven. His arms slid around her waist and his lips came down on her neck. She could feel his hard-muscled chest pressed against her back. One thing she loved about Scott was the fact that he worked out enough to keep in top physical shape.

"Smells good." He mumbled into her skin.

"Thank you." She turned in his arms and planted a tender kiss on his lips. At first, he didn't respond but then his lips moved with hers. "I missed you." She whispered when she pulled away. She wound her hands into his thick dark curls and looked into his blue eyes, looking for an indication of what mood he was in.

"Well, whose fault was that? I was here, where were you?" His words made you drop your eyes.

"I know. I just wanted to spend time with my brothers." She whispered.

He placed his hand under her chin and lifted it lightly, making her look at him. "You know they aren't your real brothers, right? What do you owe them? You should be here with me, not staying with them. It's the whole reason we moved in with each other."

"I owe Sam and Dean a lot. And I know they aren't my blood brothers, but they are still my family. They care about me." She defended their relationship, taking care to mind her tone. She didn't want to fight with him. Not right now.

"If they cared, they would talk to you more. I care. I'm here, everyday taking care of you and being here. No matter how much we fight, I stay. I just wish you would be here with me more."

"I know. You know how intense my job and schooling can be, though." She tried to explain why she couldn't just stay home.

"Well… maybe it's time for you to quit your job. I make enough to take care of you, and it would cut down on your travel time. You could focus more on school if you wanted to." He offered.

Elizabeth looked at him with appraising eyes. He had never mentioned her quitting work, only that he wanted her home more. He tried to convince her to take shorter shifts or give up schooling. She loved what she did and couldn't think of anything else she would rather do.

"Scott. I don't think so. I like working, you know that. Plus, what am I going to do just sitting around here?" She asked, trying to change his mind.

"Well." He said slowly, clenching his fist. "You could be a good girlfriend and take care of the house and make sure dinner is on the table when I get home. You know, important things."

They had this conversation before and it always turned out the same way. He got mad because she didn't want to be a stay at home girlfriend. She needed to be out hunting and busy. It wasn't the life for her to just stay home running errands and cleaning all day. She would try to explain this to him but eventually it would push him over the edge.

"I don't want to fight. You know I love my job too much to quit. Anyways, I don't want to be dependent on people. Please let's just eat dinner." She tried to shift the conversation.

"I can't keep having this argument." He told her, stepping close and grabbing her arm. "You are going to go to your boss tomorrow and put in your two weeks. Then you are going to stay away from Sam and Dean. You're lucky I'm letting you stay in college when the winter break is over. Your place is here."

"No. I'm not quitting anything, and the Winchesters are my family. You can't keep me away from them." She told him trying to break free from his grasp.

His hold tightened around her arm until her teeth clinched and she winced. "Did you just tell me no?"

"You… you can't ask me to quit. And you can't ask me to abandon my brothers." She told him through clinched teeth.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" His voice taking on a deadly tone, eyes boring into hers.

It took Elizabeth a second to collect herself knowing that she couldn't hurt him. She just didn't have it in her to cause him pain, no matter what he did. Deciding to end the argument she whispered, "No. I'll talk to Jane tomorrow."

His grip loosened from her arm and he wrapped his arms around her. He started kissing up her jawline until he nibbled on her earlobe. She pulled away gently grabbing the dinner and setting it on the table. For now, she would play nice and quit her job, just to smooth things over. She would even stay away from going off on hunts for the moment. But there was no way she was going to cut out her hunting all together. She was going to find a way to let Sam and Dean know about cases that she found, regardless of the consequences.

About a week later, Elizabeth caught an article that looked like a regular salt and burn. It wasn't too far away from the boys, so she decided to send them the info. She typed out a small explanation to Sam and was about to hit 'send' when the door opened behind her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Scott asked, looking over her shoulder.

She tried to close the window, but he saw the name before she could. She heard his sigh and she turned around to try to explain. How was she going to cover this up?

Her chair swiveled around, and a fist connected with her jaw, sending her sprawling on the floor. She reached up and felt her lip, her fingers coming away bloody. Her heart rate went through the roof and she tried to keep back her tears. He had never hit her before. Maybe he squeezed her arms and sides, making bruises from, but he never blatantly hit her. It took her a minute to wrap her head around what just happened.

She turned over to see him standing over her. "I thought I told you not to talk to them." His voice was cold, and his eyes flashed with anger.

"I...I'm s-sorry." She whimpered. The thought crossed her mind, 'you're a badass hunter and you are letting a man hit you? Seriously?' She shook her head and tried to stand up. This wasn't going to happen.

"No. You answer me and maybe I'll let you get up." He was in her face now and she could smell the alcohol on his lips. He never drank, that Elizabeth knew of anyway. She swallowed trying to buy some time.

"You're drunk. You don't know what you're doing, but you need to let me up." She told him in a calm voice.

He took a moment to look at her face, considering his next move. She prayed he would make the right one. His eyes hardened, and he brought up his fist again swinging it at her.

She dodged the hit and grabbed his wrist, pulling him forward. She used his drunkenness against him, making him lose his balance. It gave her enough time to push off the ground and make a run for it, breathing hard.

With her bare feet clambered down the hall, she didn't dare look behind her. He was yelling her name and she could tell he was getting closer.

Hands grabbed her arms and pulled them back. Before she had time to react her face connected with the wall. Pain split through her head as she tried to break free of his grasp. He gripped her hair in his hand and slammed her head into the wall again.

She brought her leg backwards, kicking him in his knee, making him stumble. She tried to walk toward the door, but her head spun from the recent hit against the wall, sending her tumbling to the ground. Scott recovered before her and she looked at him in time to see his boot come toward her face sending her into blackness.

2/15 Dean: Hey, Lizzy! Just wanted to check up on you. It's been a month and a half, and you know, Sam worries.

2/16 3 missed calls: Dean

2/17 Dean: Hey. It's been a couple of days and I haven't heard from you. Text me back.

2/17 Sam: Hey, checking on you. Haven't heard from you in a while. Let us know you're okay.

2/17 2 missed calls: Dean

2/17 3 missed calls: Sam

2/18 Dean: Dammit Lizzy. Call me.

2/18 Sam: Hey, I called your job and they said you quit. I also called your college and they said you were not enrolled. What's going on? Are you okay? Call us.

2/18 8 missed calls: Dean

2/19 Dean: I swear, if you don't pick up your phone and call me I'm driving to your house and breaking the damn door in. Answer me.

2/19 Sam: We're on our way.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam and Dean pulled up to the house in the middle of the night and parked beside the house, not bothering to hide their presence. They had not heard from Elizabeth in weeks and they were worried, especially when they learned that she dropped out of the college and quit her job. That wasn't like her at all.

"I swear Sammy, if anything happened to her …" Dean whispered to his brother, his hands tight on the wheel, knuckles white.

"I know." Sam tried to call her again but hit voicemail for the hundredth time.

They walked up to the door, not caring about how late it was, and knocked. There were no lights on in the house but that didn't mean anything to the boys. They waited a few seconds before knocking again. Sam glanced at the surrounding house and saw there was no car there. Elizabeth's car should be in the garage, but Scott's was missing. "Dean." He motioned to the empty space in the carport.

Nodding, Dean tried to open the door, but it was locked. Shrugging, he took his lock pick out of his pocket and started working on the door. He heard the familiar 'click' that let him know he did the job right. Taking out his gun, he motioned for Sam to do the same as they walked into the house.

Keeping their eyes peeled for anything out of place, they made their way deeper into the house. Dean noticed, the place was spotless, something he never thought was possible with Lizzy living there.

"Lizzy?" He called quietly. It took a second for him to register that he heard a noise when he said Elizabeth's name. Glancing at Sam, he raised his eyebrows. Sam nodded to him, telling him that he heard the noise as well.

They reached the door to Elizabeth's bedroom and peered in. Dean could only see a few shapes in the darkness, but he saw that she was there. It didn't look like Scott was there, so he opened the door wider and stepped in. He flicked on the light, making her jump with surprise. Sam furrowed his eyebrows because he knew she would have heard them.

Elizabeth raised her eyes to the door, fear and then confusion crossed her face. "What are you guys doing here?"

The boys lowered their guns and tried to collect themselves. "We haven't heard from you in a while and you weren't returning our …" Dean started to explain.

Elizabeth cut him off. "You have to leave. Now." She said in a panicked voice that made the brothers really look at her.

She was laying in the bed, slightly propped up on pillows, with mussed up hair and her makeup was smeared. She was wearing a tank top that was pulled to the side a bit, exposing part of her breast. She didn't notice it had shifted, and she was too shocked that they were there, to worry about it. What caught the boy's attention, was the discoloration over her body. She had bruises covering her chest and arms. The rest of her body was hidden under the covers, but they suspected she was bruised there too. She had a cut lip and faint bruising on her cheek. Her eyes were puffy like she had been crying recently and she was favoring her right side, not breathing too deeply.

"What the hell?" Dean growled walking up to her. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

She ignored his question, taking a shallow breath. "You need to leave. You can't be here when he comes back. Please, just go."

"When who comes back?" Sam asked her in a warm tone that had an undertone of fury. It was like he was trying to stay calm even though he wanted to kill someone.

"Scott. Please, he won't like that you are here. Just go." She tried to make them understand. They couldn't be there when he got back. It would just end in bloodshed.

"Alright. We'll go, but only if you come with us. Either way, you are not staying here alone." Sam told her. He was looking at her closer. She had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in a while and she had lost weight.

"No. I can't leave. You don't understand, he will kill me if I leave him." Her voice was becoming erratic as she tried to get them to leave. "And then, he said he was going to go after the two of you. Please, I can't risk you." Tears were starting to stream down her face.

"You know what, that's it." Dean said as he pulled the covers back.

"NO!" Elizabeth screeched and tried to grab the blankets but stopped when a sharp pain shot through her ribcage, making her cry out and hold her side.

If the Winchesters looked mad a second ago, it was nothing to the murderous glint they had in their eyes now. Not only did they now know she probably had a broken rib, but there was also blood between her thighs. She tried to close her legs, so they wouldn't see, but the blood was everywhere. She looked away from them, knowing they knew what happened.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean yelled, punching the wall. "Sammy, get her things packed. We are leaving and you," he turned to Elizabeth, "You are coming with us. I don't want to hear any arguing. We'll talk about what the hell has been going on later. We need to get you patched up though, kid."

Sam made himself busy around the room, gathering her clothes and toiletries, stuffing them into her travel bag. Elizabeth stayed where she was, making no attempt to move.

"No. Please, it's just going to make him mad. I can't protect you if I don't stay. I need to…" Dean stopped her words, cradling her face in his hands.

"He. Will NOT. Hurt you. Do you understand me? He won't hurt us, and he won't lay a hand on you again. Got me? Now, can you stand?" He asked her.

She tried to take a couple of calming breaths. She knew what he was saying made sense. She sat and calmed her heart down, thinking through the situation. Sam and Dean wouldn't let anything happen to them or her if they had a say. They could take care of it, hell, they took down Lucifer. The presence of her family was making her mind come a bit back into focus and she nodded her head to Dean. She tried to stand, but when she lifted herself off the bed, she winced, and tears prickled at her eyes.

"Alright. You know what, I'm gonna carry you." Dean told her. "Sam, get a move on!" He yelled at the youngest Winchester as he reached for Elizabeth. His arms were gentle when he placed them under her knees and around her waist. He started to lift her but stopped when she cried out in pain.

"I swear, this bastard is going to die." Dean mumbled under his breath. "Take a deep breath, we need to get you out of here. I know it hurts, just hang in there." He was telling her, trying to get her to calm down.

She nodded to him and braced herself. He lifted her into his arms and started to the door. Her breathing was coming in pants because of the amount of pain she was in. She held it together long enough for Dean to set her in the back of the Impala. She lay down in the seat and Sam came out to place a blanket over her. The engine roared to life under her reminding her of her car.

"Dean, my car. I can't leave my car. It's in the garage, I need to get it." She called to the front seat.

"Don't worry about it. Sam's got it." He told her. "You just get some rest and we'll be back at the bunker in no time. I'll call Cas to see if he can fix you up."

"Okay." She sighed, laying her head down on the seat.

They drove for a while, Elizabeth slipping in and out of consciousness. Dean kept his music low just in case she needed him. He glanced back in the rearview mirror every few minutes. He couldn't help feeling responsible for what happened to her on his watch. He knew there was something about Scott that he didn't like, but he trusted Lizzy's judgement, so he didn't say anything about it. Now he knew there was reason his stomach churned when he saw them together. He thought it was just him feeling protective of his sister, but he should have known it was something more.

Elizabeth started whimpering in her sleep as he pulled up to the bunker. Dean turned in his seat and reached back to rub his thumb lightly on her cheek.

"Hey, Lizzy. Wake up, it's okay. We're home." He whispered to her.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around like she was confused. "Dean?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm right here." He told her. "We're at the bunker so it's time to move you."

When she was cradled in his arms, she put her head on his shoulder. "Thank you" She whispered as he carried her to the safety of their home.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth was laying on one of the beds in the infirmary feeling exposed in her tank top. She never thought that the boys were going to come get her. Scott told her many times over the past … how long was it? A month? Two? She didn't know anymore. She sat, staring at the wall, knowing that she should cover herself but also knowing if she moved too fast it would hurt.

Sam sat next to her, holding her hand rubbing small circles with his thumb, trying to comfort her. Dean was busy getting supplies to treat her wounds. Elizabeth barely noticed any of these actions, she was in a fog, not letting anything seep through the protection she built for herself.

"Lizzy. Lizzy!" Dean raised his voice to get her attention. Her head snapped to the side to look at him, flinching slightly at his tone. "You okay kid?" He asked her, concern lining his features.

"I'm a little cold." She said softly, looking down. There was no reason for her to be scared, but her body seemed to ignore what her brain knew. It was pathetic, she thought, that she was a badass hunter, able to take down the worst monsters, and she didn't see what her own boyfriend was until it was too late. Not only that, but she couldn't stop him from getting what he wanted.

Dean grabbed her a blanket and gently draped it over her legs. "I'm going to call Cas and see if he can come heal you. I'll be right back." He told her, looking like he was trying to keep himself together. "Sam, stay with her, alright?"

Sam nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off Elizabeth. When Dean left, Sam turned to her. "Ellie, what happened? You can tell me." His voice was so sincere that she glanced at him and almost spilled everything that happened. She opened her mouth only to clamp it shut. She didn't want him to look at her with disappointment and pity. She closed her eyes and shook her head. It was such a small gesture that she wasn't sure he caught it.

"It's okay. Look, you don't have to be scared. It's just me." Sam tried to persuade her.

"I just can't Sam. I don't know if I ever will be able to." She told him, not looking at him.

"Why not?" He tried his hardest to make her look at him. He reached under her chin, gently lifting it trying to make her face him.

"You're just… you're just going to be… disappointed in me." She whispered, glancing at him through wet eyelashes.

Several emotions flashed across his face in rapid succession: confusion, disbelief, anger, and finally he settled on sympathy. It was like he was putting together puzzle pieces in his head as to why she would think this. "Ellie." He sighed. "Nothing will make me disappointed in you. This wasn't your fault, and we are going to be here for you no matter what. Got it?" He asked.

Before she could say anything, Dean came into the room. She had expected to see Castiel following behind him, but there was no one there. She furrowed her eyebrows in a silent question.

"Cas is, uh, well, he's busy. Looks like we are going to have to do this the old fashioned way." Dean informed them. Elizabeth sighed, knowing that she shouldn't take having an angel's healing for granted. "So. Uh, maybe we should bring you to a hospital since we can't get Cas." He suggested.

Elizabeth was shaking her head before he finished his sentence. "No, we can't do that. No way. We'll deal with it here."

"Ellie, maybe Dean's right." Sam tried to convince her.

"No." She said in a firm voice.

"Come on, Lizzy." Dean walked toward her, trying to get her to change her mind. "You need to be checked …"

"No! He'll find me! He can't know where I am." Her breathing started coming fast making her sound desperate. They didn't understand.

"How? How could he possibly find you?" Dean's voice started raising.

"I … he…" She looked between the two men, finally sighing. "I haven't… been completely honest about him." She told them in a timid voice.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look of frustration. "Spill." Was all Dean said.

Taking a deep breath to gather her courage, she tried to explain. "His work is very special. He, uh, doesn't work as a lawyer, he is in a special task force with the government. Intelligence or special forces or something. I don't know, it was…it was secret stuff, so I don't know the specifics, but he has contacts. He can find me. He can … he can find us. He's not going to be happy with me once he finds out I'm gone. Oh God, don't make me go…" By the time her voice fizzled out Dean looked like he was going to hit the wall and comfort her at the same time.

"Okay. No hospitals." Sam told her, grasping her hand tight in his, trying to calm her down. He glanced at Dean, knowing that his brother was already on edge about this situation. "Okay, we need to get you cleaned up first and then we can get you bandaged. Do you think you can walk or do you need help?"

"Let me walk." She said. Sam grabbed one of her arms while Dean grabbed the other, helping her off the table. They held onto her as she walked slowly to the bathroom. It was a slow process and more than once she had to be half carried but they eventually made it. Looking at the industrial bathroom, Elizabeth remembered that the stalls were open, and they only had showers. Realization hit her that she wouldn't be able to sit in a bath and she sucked in a breath.

"Oh. Uh, do you need help? Or, umm, like a chair?" Dean asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Can you bring a chair in here? I can manage most on my own. I, uh, I might need help getting undressed, though." Elizabeth muttered. Sam disappeared to grab a chair while Elizabeth grabbed onto one of the tiled walls that separated the showers. She was determined to hold herself up, no matter how much it hurt.

When Sam returned, he set down the chair and walked out of the bathroom leaving Dean to help you. It was better that way. She would rather have only one of the brothers be scarred by this experience. Elizabeth tried to shift out of her tank top but when she tried to lift her right arm, she could only make it go so high before pain stuck her. Carefully, Dean pulled the strap down from her shoulder and lifted the top from her body, averting his eyes as much as he could. He moved over to the next stall where he leaned against the wall, facing away from her.

Elizabeth was grateful for him staying with her but also grateful that he was giving her privacy. She turned on the water, letting it warm up while it poured over her. The setup wasn't ideal, but it was good enough for her to be able to wash her hair and clean the blood off her body. The soap burned a few of the cuts she had collected on her body and she hissed when she cleaned them. The worst pain was when she carefully rubbed the soap against the tender skin between her legs. She couldn't keep the tears away and she let out a sob.

"Lizzy?" Dean didn't turn around completely but he did jerk his head to the side to check on her.

"I'm okay. I just. It hurts." She tried to calm him down.

Every time she winced or hissed, Dean would snap his head back to make sure she was okay, only to look away. Elizabeth didn't see the way Dean was crossing his arms with his fists clinched. His jaw clinched at every hiss and noise he heard, knowing there was nothing he could do to help her.

"Dean?" Elizabeth mumbled. "I'm done. Can you hand me a towel please?" She asked.

Dean didn't hesitate to reach for the towel as she turned off the water, letting the last bit of pink water go down the drain. Dean draped the towel around her body and she dried what she could. It was humiliating that Dean had to help her dry her legs because she couldn't bend down without pain. She had managed to clean herself, but it made her side pulse with pain and she couldn't do it again.

Taking her arm, Dean helped her to her feet. Without Sam there to help, getting her to move was a challenge. After taking a long time getting to the door of the bathroom, she caved, asking Dean to carry her the rest of the way. He immediately grabbed her and lifted her like it was what he wanted to do the entire time.

After they got some of the cuts taken care of and her chest was wrapped up to prevent her ribs from causing her so much pain while she moved, Elizabeth was exhausted. She was wrapped in Dean's sweatpants and one of the boy's flannel shirts, for better access to parts of her body that needed healing. She had to admit that she was comfortable in the way too big clothes.

They continued to try pressing her for answers, which she ignored. It was better for everyone if she just dealt with it herself. She knew she was going to have to figure out a long-term plan, but she couldn't bring herself to figure it out just then. Everything still seemed too much, and her energy was crap.

When she couldn't keep her eyes opened, she happily drifted to sleep. She was briefly woken by the sensation of floating as one of the boys carried her to her room. She didn't even feel herself being put on the bed before she was out again.

 _She was standing in the kitchen trying to will the sauce to thicken faster. She knew Scott would be home in a few minutes and she needed to get dinner ready before he got home. She failed a couple days ago, and he took it out of her abdomen. She grabbed her stomach, grimacing at the memory._

 _She heard the door unlock and checked the clock. "Shit." He was early._

" _Liz. I'm home. Where are you baby?" She could hear him at the door putting his keys down. Her keys were now on his keyring because apparently, he couldn't trust her. It had been days since she went anywhere._

" _I'm in here, Scott." Elizabeth called to him, stirring the alfredo sauce hoping it would be good enough to serve. He didn't like anything from the jar, so it had to be from scratch. Normally she didn't mind, but recently with the time constraints and pressure, it was starting to become a problem._

 _He sighed when he saw her standing at the stove. "I thought dinner would be ready."_

" _It's almost done. You're early, but why don't you sit down and have a drink while I finish up." She suggested, trying to appease him, while also reminding him that it wasn't her fault she wasn't done yet._

" _So, you're blaming me again. Typical." He scoffed._

" _That not what I meant, and you know it." Her temper was starting to get the best of her. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from saying anything else._

" _See, that's the fire that I love about you." He said stepping close to her, putting his hands on her shoulders gently. "If you take the sauce off the stove, it will get thick faster." He told her._

 _Everything in her told her he was wrong. That's not how that works. "I don't think that will actually help." She told him shortly._

 _He reached around her and took the pot off the burner. "Again, you are not listening to me. Should I just go ahead and find your precious Winchesters and pay them a visit?"_

" _If you do, they are just going to kick your ass." The sentence came out before she could stop it._

 _His hand snaked down her arm and he grasped her wrist. Before she knew what he was doing, he pulled her arm up and slammed it on the burner. Pain shot up her arm and she let out a blood curdling scream. His left hand flew to her mouth to silence her as he held her arm on the hot surface for a few more seconds. She could smell her flesh burning and tears fell freely from her eyes. She tried to back away from the stove but his hands held her firmly in place._

 _Taking her arm off the stove, he let go of her, throwing her on the ground. "Now. That wasn't a nice thing to say, Liz. You should watch what you say to me. Now get up and make yourself presentable. I'm hungry and don't forget." He leaned down, his face close to hers. "Tonight, you better not fight me again."_

"Lizzy!" Dean's voice crashed through the nightmare waking her up. It was dark in the room but there was enough light coming through the bottom of the door for her to see Dean sitting next to her bed. "Hey, Sweetheart it's okay. It's just a dream."

Elizabeth looked down to the burn on her right arm. It was a scar that would always adorn her body. She looked at Dean to see he was in his day clothes.

"Are you guys going somewhere?" She asked, worried that he and Sam were going to leave her there alone.

"Yeah, um. We need to go check on Kevin. We haven't checked on him in a bit and we need to see if he translated any more of the tablet. You going to be okay staying here?" He asked, almost warily.

It had been a few days since arriving at the bunker with the boys. Elizabeth could move on her own and thankfully shower and cook for herself. "Yeah, I'll be good. Just call me every now and again so I know you are still alive." She almost pleaded with him.

"You're gonna regret that." He said, winking at her. "Make sure you have a gun on you at all times and your phone. Scott doesn't know where this place is, and it's warded so you'll be safe. Just. Don't go outside. If anything happens, call us."

"I will. Just do me a favor. Make sure you and Sam don't die." She smiled at him when she said that, knowing it was always a possibility for a hunter.

Dean smiled and shook his head as he walked out of the room. It was only going to be for a couple of days. She could handle it. Right?


	6. Chapter 6

It had been four days and Elizabeth could honestly say she was going crazy. At first, she wasn't sure if her new phone number would work. Sam had suggested she get a new number, so she could fully disappear. She had heard from Dean a couple of times when he called just to make sure she was okay. He wouldn't tell her what they were doing but he did say that Kevin was his normal strung out self. She laughed when he told her Kevin thought Crowley was spying on him. It was ridiculous with the amount of warding she knew they put around him.

Since the boys left, the highlight of her day was running around the bunker and doing slight workouts to strengthen her body. So far, she had healed quite a bit and she was able to do sit-ups without gasping in pain. Her rib has been slowly healing since it was hit a few weeks ago and it was almost back to normal, though she still had pain. It was comforting to know that the harder she worked her body, the stronger she became and the more she healed. She tried to keep herself busy cleaning the bunker when she had done everything else she could think of.

A large part of her days was spent in the library, sifting through the Men of Letters vast collection. When her vision got blurry with sleep, she would stand up and run a lap to wake herself up. She wouldn't admit to herself that she was deliberately trying to make herself stay awake. Honestly, she had not gotten a lot of sleep these past couple of months. First with the worry that Scott would wake in the middle of the night and not be happy with her. Then when she finally got to the bunker, she was plagued with nightmares that would leave her a sweaty mess when she woke up. Needless to say, sleeping was no longer one of her favorite things.

It was on the third day being alone when her phone rang with an unknown number. Figuring it was someone who was trying to contact the previous owner of the number, she answered it.

"Hello?" She answered the phone in her normal quirky manner.

"I've missed you." She heard a familiar voice respond.

Her blood ran cold and she stood up, suddenly alert, clenching her fist around the phone. "How…how did you…?" She was having trouble getting a coherent sentence out.

"I told you, you can't hide from me. I will always find you." Scott's voice was soft. It almost sounded loving even though the words he was saying were threats.

"Just… just leave me alone. You can keep everything in the apartment, but … I can't be with you anymore." She took a deep breath and tried to keep her convictions. There was no rational reason that he would try to pursue her if she didn't want him.

"Oh. You should know by now that I get what I want, and I still want you. But I do have to say, this toughness is what drew me to you in the first place. It made it so much more fun when I broke you." He crooned into the phone.

Elizabeth swallowed and tried to stay calm. There was no way he knew where she was because he had never been to the bunker. They made sure of it. That knowledge gave her the courage to speak her mind. "You didn't though. I'm still alive and fighting. You didn't break me, you made me stronger, you son of a bitch." Her voice was stronger than the conviction she felt. Once the sentence was out of her mouth she flinched, almost like she was waiting for the blow that wouldn't come.

Before he could say anything else, she ended the call without another word. She immediately went to her contacts and pushed Dean's name on the screen. She hit voicemail twice in a row. What the hell was he doing?

"Come on Dean." She muttered, calling him again. On the third ring, he answered, his voice sounding tired and stressed. "What?" She wasn't used to him being so short with her and in her current state, she reacted a little more forceful than she normally would.

"What crawled up your ass?" She growled at him.

She heard him sigh. "Sorry. Just, a stressful day. Kevin flew the cuckoo's nest and Sam did the second trial. Its …it's just been a busy couple of days."

"Woah." Was all she could say. What the hell? It was only supposed to be a trip for them to check on Kevin and it ended up being a big ordeal. She couldn't say she was surprised, though. They always took on more than they originally thought they would.

"What's going on Lizzy?" Dean asked in a softer voice.

"Um. Well… I don't think it's that big of a deal. Not with what has been going on. I can handle it." She wanted to tell him what happened, but it sounded like they had one hell of a day.

"No. Something happened. Spill." Dean sounded like he was losing patience, so she decided to just answer him.

"Well… I got a call today. Just now actually. It was Scott." She said the words as fast as she could, knowing it wasn't going to be taken well.

"What?!" He screamed in her ear, making her flinch. She heard Sam question what happened in the background.

"He found my number. I don't know how, but he isn't really happy with me." She tried to explain the gist of the conversation.

"Okay. One problem at a time. You didn't do anything stupid did you? Like tell him where you were?" He asked her, his voice sounded like he was trying to be patient.

"Of course not. I'm not an idiot. I just thought you would want to know. Hey, how's Sam doing?" She asked, trying to shift the conversation.

"He's uh. Well he's good. Nothing we couldn't handle. We'll be there in a couple of hours. Stay inside and just don't answer your phone if it rings again." He told her, knowing that the more Scott talked to her, the bigger chance she could leave, or he could find them.

When the boys got to the bunker, it was just about noon. Sam said hello to Elizabeth and shuffled to his room, talking about getting some sleep. She just smiled at him and told him to sleep well. He looked good. She didn't see anything that would lead her to believe that the second trial had any impact on him at all.

Dean joined her in the library holding a glass with a generous amount of whiskey. She knew something big must have happened and she waited until Dean took a few gulps of the amber liquid to ask. "Dean, what happened?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, dragging his hand down his face. She knew iIt was something he did when he was stressed, she knew. "Ah man. What didn't happen? We got no leads on Kevin, the whole place was empty. Kid even took all his research with him, so we got bupkis on what the next trial is." He stopped, looking at the ground.

"What else happened? What about the trial?" She askednudged, wanting to be gentle but wanting answers even more.

"Sammy had to, uh, he had to free a soul from Hell. So, he hopped a soul train, landed in purgatory, and got Bobby out. Oh, and I had to gank Benny. He was the only shot Sam had of getting back. He didn't make it." Dean shook his head slightly staring at the ground. He downed the rest of his glass in one swig, standing to pour himself another round.

Elizabeth sat stunned. Bobby was in Hell this entire time? There was no way he deserved to be there, it had to be a mistake. Elizabeth stood and walked over to Dean, wrapping her arms around his middle, placing her head against his chest, and held him close. "I'm sorry about Benny." She told him. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin, drawing comfort from her hug. It wasn't often that he let people hug him, but Lizzy was special. She could usually make his hurt a little less when she hugged him.

"Is Sam going to be okay?" She asked stepping away from him. "Are you?" She looked at him, trying to read his face when he answered her.

"Yeah. Yeah. I-I don't know kiddo." He tried to reassure her, but he knew she wouldn't buy it. All he could tell her was the truth. He had no idea what was going to happen. Dean cleared his throat and sat back down, turning his gaze on her. "So. What did douchebag have to say?"

She figured they were in for a long conversation, so she sat with him. While she talked, she played with the hem of her shirt, not meeting his eye. "Well. The usual. 'I get what I want. I still want you. You can't hide from me.' I don't know how he got my number." She tried to lessen his words by chuckling, but Dean saw through it. His hand wrapped around hers giving it a squeeze.

"We'll deal with him, if and when we have to. He's not hurting you again." He told her, in a firm voice that she couldn't argue with.

"It's not me I'm worried about." She looked at him, letting her eyes bore into his.

"That's sweet, but you know damn well Sam and I can take care of ourselves." He almost convinced her that he was dismissing it. "Did you get any sleep while we were gone? Cause you look like shit."

She gave him the best bitchface she could manage. "I got plenty. I'm fine."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows into a look that showed he didn't believe her. "Cause, since you've been backwe brought you home, you haven't slept hardly at all. And when you do, you wake up screaming."

She was at a loss for words. She thought she was getting away with not sleeping and she definitely thought they didn't know about the nightmares.

"Yeah. The first night you were here, you woke up screaming and of course, Sammy and I thought something was wrong. We came in with our guns and you were on the bed shaking. You don't remember us waking you up?" He asked. It was news to her, so she just shook her head. She remembered that night, all two hours of sleep she was able to grab.

She closed her eyes and cradled her head in her palm. "Sorry, if I wake you guys up. It's just been hard."

"Lizzy. What happened to you?" You knew he wasn't asking for specifics, but the general story.

She shook her head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"It doesn't matter, Dean. Just leave it." She started to get up to avoid the conversation.

He stood and grabbed her arm lightly, stopping her. "It does matter. Don't you dare say that it doesn't matter. That bastard hurt you and I should have been there to stop it. This is on me. So yeah, Lizzy, it matters."

Tears prickled in her eyes and she tried furiously not to let them fall. "What do you want to hear? I was weak? How I couldn't stop him from beating me and holding my skin to burners until I could smell myself burning? How I couldn't fight him when he raped me, almost every night? How I eventually just let it happen because it was better than being left with bruises and cuts just to have it happen anyway?" Tears were freely flowing from her now, she didn't even brush them away. Everything was flowing out of her like a dam had broken and nothing could stop it. "Do you want to hear how he threatened you and Sam so I wouldn't fight as much? The only reason I didn't kill myself was because he said you would suffer for it! I wanted it to end so bad! I wanted… I…I…" At some point she started yelling and then her words faded into sobs.

Dean wrapped her in his arms and she clung to him, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. He held her tight while she wailed, the noises coming from her pure anguish. At some point her legs couldn't hold her up anymore and he supported her bodyweight until quieted down.

"It wasn't your fault." He told her.

"It wasn't yours either." She whispered to him.


	7. Chapter 7

Feeling like a zombie from the lack of sleep, Elizabeth stumbled into the kitchen for her second cup of coffee of the day. It had been a long night and she wasn't sure how much sleep she had actually gotten, but it wasn't enough. Walking though to the library, she sat across from Dean.

"Couldn't sleep either?" She asked.

"Not really." He sighed.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked curious about why he was on the laptop. There were no special noises coming from it, so she knew it wasn't his normal , for which she was grateful.

"Research. Trying to get a beat on Kevin. So far, nada." He was taking this hard and Elizabeth knew it.

"I'm feeling cooped up. Wanna go for some breakfast? Maybe grab some beer on the way back?" She asked. She needed to go outside and walk around but she didn't want to go on her own.

"We should have beer in the fridge." He said.

"Yeah. About that." She smiled at him sheepishly.

Dean shook his head. "Seriously?"

"What? I got bored and it's a great pain reliever. If you… drink a lot of it, at once." She flashed her teeth at him, trying to lessen the blow.

"Alright. First off, you shouldn't be drinking so much. Second. Get dressed, I'm not going out there with you looking like that. People will think I kidnapped you or something." He told her.

She stuck her tongue out at him as she went to her room to tame her hair. She had not really brushed it in a while and she could only imagine what her auburn locks looked like.

After having some of the best pancakes she had ever tasted, Elizabeth and Dean made it back to the bunker. He put the beer on the table next to his laptop and she reached over and grabbed one. Swiftly uncapping it and taking a swig.

"Oh, nu uh." He said, taking it out of her hands. "No way. You're not becoming an alcoholic on my watch." He warned, as he drank the beer.

"You're one to talk." She challenged.

"Well, I'm older. So that means I'm always right." He told her smiling.

Just then, Sam appeared looking like he just woke up from a very long nap. His hair was all over the place and he looked disoriented.

Dean turned to him. "Y…" He stopped once he saw his brother, giving him a look of slight disgust. Sam stopped and slightly swayed. "Man, I'm telling you, give me five minutes with some clippers and…"

"Oh, shut up." Sam said as he ran his fingers through his hair. Dean looked like he wanted to say more, but he held his tongue. "Uh, what time did I lay down?" Sam asked.

"You came in and passed out around noon." Elizabeth told him.

"Yesterday." Dean clarified. He picked up a beer and tossed it to Sam who looked at it without even attempting to catch it. Elizabeth flinched when it shattered behind Sam. Dean looked like he was trying not to let his temper get the best of him. He lightly hit his fist on the table as Sam apologized.

"That's why we don't have nice things, Sam." Dean told him. Elizabeth was trying not to laugh but a giggle slipped through her lips. Dean shot her a look that said "I will end you."

"This is why you should have given me the beer instead." She told him smirking.

She looked at Sam who swayed slightly. "Sam, you okay?" She asked.

He put his hand on the table and rubbed his eyes like he had a headache. "I'm…I'm fine. Just, uh, you know what? I'm gonna get dressed. We should find Kevin."

Dean stopped him. "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Easy, easy, sleeping beauty. Look man, I've hacked into every security camera around – Garth's houseboat, Kevin's hometown, where Mrs. Tran lived."

"And?" Sam sounded hopeful.

"He's got nothing." Elizabeth offered.

"Well, we have to find him." Sam insisted.

Dean tried to calm him down. "I know. Look, Garth is out looking for him. We've got a hunter A.P.B. out on Kevin. We will do what we can from here. While you get better."

"Yeah, I'm with Dean on this one, Sam. You look like Hell." Elizabeth was worried about how he was looking. It didn't help that his balance was terrible.

"The same goes for you." Dean shot at Elizabeth. "Do you think I didn't notice you still flinch when loud noises happen or when you move the wrong way. You're still busted up too." Dean shot at her.

"I'm fine." Sam and Elizabeth said at the same time.

"I can still go out there." Sam said, while Elizabeth said. "I can still hunt."

"Really?" Dean shot at the both of you.

Dean took Sam to the firing range and had him shoot off a couple of rounds. From the look on Sam's face, it didn't end well. Dean walked up to Elizabeth. "Alright. Your turn."

"What? You want me to shoot a gun at a target too?" She asked sarcastically.

"Nope. We are going to spar. Try to take me down. If you can, we can talk about you going on a hunt."

She chuckled and lunged for him. She punched at his face, but he grabbed her wrist stopping her. With her other hand, she tried to break his hold. He grabbed that hand as well. She tried to break his grasp, but he was too strong, so she brought her right leg up to kick at him. When she moved too fast, she hissed from the pain radiating down her side. Dean let go of her immediately and she grasped her ribs. They would only give her sharp pains every now and again. Of course, this would be the time they would flair up.

"I rest my case." He told her walking away.

Huffing in frustration, she kicked the back of his knee and pushed his torso forward, sending him tumbling to the ground. She climbed on his back and held him down, locking him in a headlock. He tapped on her arm for her to let him go. "See, I told you I was ready." She smirked at him, while she helped him up.

"That doesn't mean anything." Dean said. "We are all staying here, and that's final."

Elizabeth was sulking in a chair at the end of the library when Sam announced that he got an email from Charlie about a case. At the mention of the redhead, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. She was extremely fond of her and of course, redheads had to stick together.

"In the neighborhood? How the hell's she know where we are?" Dean asked.

"Uh…well, she doesn't. Not exactly, at least. It says she tracked our cells to a 20-mile radius then the signal went out. Huh. This place must be in some kind of, like, Bermuda triangle." Sam looked like he hit the jackpot.

"What, are you saying, that we can make and receive phone calls from here and nobody can track us?" Dean asked, glancing at Elizabeth. "Man, I love this place."

Elizabeth took a second to let that sink in. The bunker was truly the safest place for her to be. Scott would never find her while she was there. "But," a small voice said to her, "you save people. To do that you have to leave."

"Well. Let's go meet her." Dean said. "Maybe you should stay here, just in case anything pops up." He said to Elizabeth

"But I want to say hi to her." She pouted.

"She's coming back here. Say hi to her then." He scoffed. Elizabeth could only watch as they left the bunker in search of your other favorite redhead.

When the door opened, Elizabeth ran up the stairs leading to the door. As soon as she saw Charlie, she gave a squeak and hugged her. "I'm so happy you're here. Finally, someone cool to join us. What are you doing here?"

Charlie laughed. "There's a comic convention in Topeka. Couldn't miss it. Heh."

Elizabeth looked at her for a second, it struck her as odd that she would be at a convention in the middle of the week, but she let it go. "I hear ya. So, are you staying for a bit? Please tell me you are staying."

"Uh. Yeah, I found a case for us all. Hey, you okay?" She asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth followed Charlie's gaze and noticed that her shirt had slipped revealing a bruise that was still healing. She pulled down her sleeves to hide the burns and chuckled. "Of course. It's nothing. Come on in, let me show you around the place."

Going down the stairs, Charlie was taking in every inch of the place. When they entered the library, she actually said "Holy, mother of Tolkien."

Once they got settled, they talked about the case. Elizabeth couldn't keep a straight face when Charlie said what she had been thinking for months about the Men of Letters. "Too bad they got whipped out, though that is what they get for the sexist name." Elizabeth caught Charlie's eye and winked at her, sending a blush over Charlie's cheeks.

Charlie brought a computer system that she used to categorize monsters, making it easier to eliminate possible bad guys. They were looking for a creature that liquified a man, by the name of Tom Blake. The tech she had was impressive, but it left the Winchesters questioning her.

"Wait a second. When did you become such an expert?" Sam asked her.

"Well, after you guys left, I dug into all things monstrous. I'm a wee bit obsessive. If "a wee bit" means completely. Elizabeth helped me out on some of the cases, giving me some info and whatnot. Thanks for that by the way." Elizabeth bit her bottom lip as Sam and Dean turned to her with looks that told her she would get an earful later. "I also found this series of books by Carver Edlund."

At that, the three of you them looked very uncomfortable and gave each other glances. Charlie noticed and asked if they actually happened. When no one answered herher, and the room was teeming with awkwardness, she tried to break it. "Wow. That is some meta-madness. Thanks for saving the world and stuff. Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies." She said to Sam. "Awesome job keeping up with these two, even though you had a huge crush on Sam when you were younger. Glad you didn't let it stop you from the brother sister thing." She said to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth felt her throat go dry. Sam and Dean turned to look at her with their eyebrows raised. "We need to find every single copy of those books and burn them." She said, avoiding Sam's gaze.

"They're online now, so good luck with that." Charlie let the three of you in on the bad news.

"Awesome." Dean said, while Elizabeth slammed her head down on the table. "Well, you three crazy kids deal with that. I will go see if there's anything to this, uh, case of yours."

Without missing a beat Sam volunteered to go with Dean. As he got up, he fell and had to hold onto the chair to keep himself standing. Dean told him in his fatherly voice, "You're taking a knee as long as you're off your game."

Elizabeth stood up, but Dean cut her off. "You too Lizzy. We are not having this fight again. Stay where you're safe."

In the end, Charlie went with Dean after he took her into the shooting range for her to prove herself capable. She ended up getting two headshots, leading Elizabeth to high five her for being a badass. Elizabeth laughed at the way Dean's face looked when he saw the shot. It was like he couldn't believe he was wrong and because he is a sore loser, he told her she had to ditch her novelty t-shirts.

"So, did you really have a crush on me?" Sam asked Elizabeth trying to be subtle but falling flat. Dean and Charlie had been gone for a few hours and Elizabeth hated that she wasn't with them.

She cleared her throat. "Um. Yeah. When we first met, I thought you, you know, were cute. I was 17 and you were about to head off to college." She told him. He raised his eyebrows and put his hands in his lap, waiting for more of an explanation. "I didn't say anything because I knew it wouldn't work. Then, you found Jess and I kept hunting. It never seemed like the right time to say anything and then the apocalypse happened, and you died. Again. Suddenly, I was with other men and then Scott came around. It just never seemed to work out is all."

He sighed. "Yeah, that seems like our life doesn't it?" He looked at the table for a few minutes before turning to her again. "Would you, ever…" He stopped looking like he wanted to say something but didn't want to say it.

"Would I ever, what?" She asked, worried about what he was going to ask.

"Would you ever try again? With someone? Maybe someone like me?" He asked, watching her reaction.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and sat thinking. "I honestly don't know Sam. Would you honestly be able to see me as anything other than a sister? If the answer is not an immediate yes, then it's probably not a good idea. Anyway, after Scott…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Look, I know he hurt you. I'm not saying you should get right back out there and date, but don't say never. Even if it could be with someone like me." He told her, turning to head to the shooting range. She knew what he said was right, she just had to heal a bit. His questions also brought up a question of her own. Was Sam into her?

She shook her head and went to her room. For some reason, she was exhausted and decided to try getting a few hours of sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she would hear a gunshot go off and it was getting irritating. Though, she knew Sam needed to practice so she threw on a pair of headphones to drown out the noise. Soon, she found herself drifting to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

When Elizabeth woke up, she realized it had been hours since she fell asleep. It shocked her that she was able to sleep dream free, but maybe it was just because she was exhausted, and her brain had no more energy to throw into creating situations that made her feel like she was back in that house with Scott.

She sat up and stretched deciding to go find Sam. Maybe they could train a bit or see how Dean was doing with the case. Walking through the bunker, she noticed that it was quiet. Too quiet.

"Sam?" She called out. Nothing. She pulled her gun from her waistband and aimed it in front of her. She searched through the library, kitchen, war room, bathrooms, and Sam's room. When she couldn't find him, she started to panic. She ran to the garage to find a car missing. Maybe he just went out for some beer or something, she thought. Or maybe Scott found them. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Sam's number. No answer.

"Shit." She muttered, dialing Dean's number. He answered on the second ring. "Dean is Sam with you?" She tried to keep her voice steady, but panic seeped through her voice.

"Uh, yeah. He just showed up and I tried to send him back, but you know Sam. Good job keeping him there, by the way." She could hear the anger in his voice.

"I was asleep. He left without telling me. Wait, are you blaming me for this?" She asked.

He sighed. "No, I just. I don't know. We are headed back to the bunker now, we got what we needed from the scene and the coroner's office, but we have to do some more research. See you when we get there." He hung up.

Elizabeth stood, stunned that he hung up on her. Was he actually blaming her for what Sam did? They had gone over this so many times, Sam did what he wanted and there was nothing she could do about it. She took a deep breath and decided to go to the shooting range while she waited. She didn't need to hold in her aggression, but she didn't want to take it all out on Dean and Sam either.

After hitting the mark multiple times, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instincts kicking in, she turned and raised her arm, trying to punch the person. She stopped when he saw that it was Sam. "I almost killed you. You asshole." She spit at him. He was giving her that puppy dog look and she huffed, pushing past him.

"Ellie, stop. I'm sorry, I didn't tell you I was going to the job. I needed to get out there."

"Yeah? And what about me? You didn't bother checking to see if I wanted to go? Or that I would wake up and be worried sick about you, thinking that Scott got into the bunker?" She was throwing her wants up at the end of each question that she gave so fast that he had no time to answer.

"No. I just. I didn't think." He told her, hanging his head.

"No. you didn't." She threw at him before turning around, heading to the library.

She found Dean and Charlie sitting at one of the tables and she joined them. Dean gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head. Sam joined them, and they got started on figuring out what was going on.

They went through books and they used Charlie's computer system to eliminate monsters. They eventually found the answer in John's journal. They were going after a bastard offshoot of a Djinn that left a blue handprint and left the insides of the victim jelly.

"So, do these things die like regular Djinn?" Sam asked.

"Silver blade dipped in lamb's blood, yeah." Dean read from the journal. "Now we just got to find the asshat."

Charlie shut her computer and started to get up from the table. "All right. Well, breakthrough means snack time to me. And I want to just, uh, stretch my legs. I will pick up some grub, and unlike you, Sam, I will not forget the pie."

At that Sam smiled at her, remembering when he brought his brother cake instead of pie. Elizabeth chuckled and called after Charlie. "Hey, do you want some company?" Dean turned to look at Elizabeth, giving her a glare.

"Nah, I got it. You stay and rest." Charlie told her, smiling.

As Charlie walked away, Elizabeth furrowed her brows. "Does she seem off to you guys?"

"Since the second she got here." Sam said.

"Yeah, I got that too." Dean agreed.

Elizabeth nodded to them, glad they saw it too.

Charlie had been gone for over an hour when Elizabeth started to worry. She called her phone twice with no answer. She voiced your her concerns to Sam, who agreed with her, picking up his own phone to try to call.

"Charlie, it's Sam. Uh… again, call us." When he hung up, he started coughing. Elizabeth looked at him worried, but he waved his hand at her to calm her down. He sat down in a chair in the war room and took a deep breath.

Just then, Dean came in to the room. He looked at Sam and rolled his eyes as he saw Sam try to cover up the fact that he was coughing. "Any word from Charlie?" He asked.

"Uh no." Sam replied.

"I found out a good piece of information, though. There was no comic convention in Topeka. I don't know why she would lie to us, but I'm worried about her."

"Well there's one way to find out." Dean said taking out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"When I called you from her phone, I turned on her GPS." Dean told the two of them with a smile.

"Smart." Elizabeth commended him.

"It says that she is in an apartment building." Dean said. "All right I'm gonna go find her."

"I'm coming with you." Elizabeth and Sam said at the same time, earning an irritated look from Dean.

Dean started to argue, but Elizabeth cut them off. "We don't have time to have this conversation." she snapped at him as she went to grab her things.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He knew that he couldn't argue with her, and Charlie had been gone too long so he was going to let it slide. Plus, he needed all the help he could get.

When they got to her apartment, Sam decided to take the lead. They knocked on her door, but they got no answer. Sam looked back at the two of them and started to pick the lock. When he got the door open he reach back and took out his gun. Dean and Elizabeth followed his lead.

"Dean." Sam said in alarm.

They walked in and saw that the apartment was destroyed. The end table was knocked over and there were papers everywhere. There was no sign of Charlie in the main room, so Dean checked the bathroom. There was a table that had a laptop and a small box sitting next to it. The box was open, and there were many fake IDs and passports with Charlie's face on them.

"The hell?"

Sam asked as he sat down at the table.

"What the hell is this place?" Dean asked.

"Whatever it is, it belongs to Charlie, or some variation of her." Sam said picking up one of the fake passports.

"Who the hell is she, Jason Bourne?" Dean said throwing one of the passports back to the table. "All right, so, we got no forced entry, so either it was somebody that she knew or...:"

"Djinn." Elizabeth said as she picked up Charlie's cell phone. "Here's all of our missed calls."

"Got anything on our laptop?" Dean asked Sam.

Sam shook his head and told them that Charlie had been making donations through her aliases to Shawnee County General in Topeka. It turns out that the money was going to a patient at the hospital named Gertrude Middleton.

Dean decided to go see who this Gertrude woman was, while Elizabeth and Sam kept digging for information on the Djinn.

Elizabeth and Sam got back to the bunker, they found out that nine years ago there was a body that turned up that was a John Doe. The main medical examiner wanted the body to be sent to the CDC, but the corners assistant "accidentally" ordered the body to be burned. The Jennifer O'Brian, the coroner that looked like she had a stick up her ass and ordered the bodies to be burned from the morgue before the boys could get info off them.

When Dean got back, he told them that the woman, Gertrude, was Charlie's mom. Apparently, she had been in a coma since Charlie was 12.

Elizabeth couldn't help feeling sorry for Charlie. She knew how hard it was to lose her parents at a young age. They had to find her.

Sam told Dean everything they found, and he actually looked impressed.

"Coroner's a hell of a cover for hiding kills." Dean said.

"Look at this. CDC never heard from Jennifer this time either." Sam said. "She faked the reports, burn the bodies to cover tracks."

"Why did she get sloppy again after nine years, start leaving the bodiey is where they could be found?" Dean asked.

"Well, let's go ask her. According to this, she owns two pieces of property in town. A two-bedroom house about 10 minutes from here and an abandoned shipping warehouse." Elizabeth said, reading over Sam shoulder.

They found the warehouse in all it's creepy glory. Walking in, they had their guns raised. Dean had tried to get Elizabeth to stay at the bunker, but she talked him out of itwasn't going to have it. Reluctantly, Dean agreed that all three of them were needed if they were going to protect Charlie, which is how the three of them found themselves standing in the entryway to the warehouse. Splitting up, Elizabeth went with Dean, while Sam searched by himself to cover more ground.

Dean and Elizabeth found her tied to a chair in the back of the warehouse. She was knocked out and there was a blue handprint on her arm. The Djinn had already poisoned her, Elizabeth saw with horror.

"Dammit" Dean said.

"Charlie?" Elizabeth came up to her, placing her hands - on Charlie's face trying to get her to wake up. There was no response and that made Elizabeth's breath come heavier. She was not going to let Charlie die.

Elizabeth and Dean heard Sam grunt, and the only thing they could think was that he was in trouble. Dean went to go help him while Elizabeth tried to wake Charlie up. After no success, all she could do was wait for Dean to come back. It didn't take long when they came around the corner and Elizabeth sighed with relief.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She asked Sam.

"Yeah, no problem. The Djinn was taken care of. How's Charlie?" Sam asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I can't wake her up. We need the antidote."

Sam took it out of his pocket and they injected her, expecting that she was going to wake up. When she didn't they started to panic. Sam guessed that because it was a different kind a Djinn that Charlie would need a different kind of antidote.

Elizabeth put her hand to Charlie's forehead. "She's burning up. What do we do?"

Dean put his hand to her forehead as well. Elizabeth shot him a look, knowing that he needed to find out on his own, but she couldn't help but feel irritated at the fact that he didn't trust her.

"Dammit, you're right. We're not letting her turn to Jell-O." Dean said, panic in his voice.

After figuring out that they had to break the dream from inside Charlie's head, they broke out some African dream root. Of course, Dean was not going to let Elizabeth or Sam take on the responsibility, so he drank it himself. If the situation wasn't as horrible as it was, Elizabeth would've laughed when Sam punched his brother to knock him out.

Elizabeth and Sam waited anxiously. There was not much they could do while at Dean was trying to snap Charlie out of it, except pace back and forth.

Elizabeth decided to walk around the warehouse. She figured there might be something hidden in the warehouse that could be useful to them. Of course, when she told Sam she wanted to walk around, he told her no.

"I'll be fine. We killed the Djinn and I have my gun just in case. I can't just sit here and do nothing." Elizabeth told him, even to her, her voice sounded exasperated.

Sam nodded. "Fine. Just be careful. I don't feel like telling Dean I'm the reason you got hurt."

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to walk away, hoping to find some new toys or at least some books.

The warehouse was full of boxes filled with trinkets that didn't look much of anything. Elizabeth looked through multiple boxes before she gave up deciding to head back to Sam. Of course, there wouldn't be anything cool in here. When she turned around she was caught in the glare of a boy that looked no older than 16. She stopped in her tracks and went to grab for her gun. When she moved, he stepped closer to her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her. "You're not supposed to be here."

"We uh…" Elizabeth started to say. She stopped when the boy's eyes flashed with blue light. She looked down to see what looked like blue tattoos running up his arms. "Shit." She said as he lunged for her.

She tried to step to the side, but he was too fast. His hand went across her face and she fell to the ground. Her head was spinning as she tried to get up. Before she could, the boy had her pinned down, leaving her no room to grab her gun, not that it would do much good anyway. Damn he is strong, she thought. Before she could try to knock him off her, he brought his hand up and wrapped it around her neck. She felt white hot searing pain through her skin where he touched her, and she let out a scream before the world went black.


	9. Chapter 9

Elizabeth looked down at herself and saw she was wearing nothing but a tank top and some sleeping shorts. She didn't remember when she put these on or how she had gotten to bed, but she didn't want to question it too much. Who knows what happened with the amount of times she had been knocked out in her life. Getting up, she took in a deep breath before heading to the kitchen. There had to be some coffee in the bunker somewhere.

Opening her door, she looked down the hallway. There was no one there and it was silent. Normally when she woke up, there was some indication that the boys were awake. Either they were fighting or banging dishes around in the kitchen. But this morning everything was completely still.

She walked around the corner, peeking into the kitchen to see if they were there. Deciding they must have gone out for supplies or they were still sleeping, she started making coffee. Moving around the kitchen, she didn't notice a person standing behind her. He stood watching her, as she moved from the coffee pot to the fridge, deciding not to announce himself yet. He just wanted to see her.

Coffee in hand, Elizabeth turned around and headed to the library. She was going to do some reading while she waited for the boys. Looking down the hallway, she made note that there was still no sign of anyone, though she felt the back of her neck prickle with uncertainty. Shaking her head, and pushing the thought away, she continued to the library, hoping to find Sam.

"Sam?" She called out. No answer. "Hmm."

She chose her favorite chair to do research in and sat down. The night before she had started reading about Djinns for some reason. Every now and again she liked to brush up on her monsters and it was the book she picked up. Opening to the page she fell asleep on last night, she started reading about a bastard offshoot of the Djinn that ended up liquifying their victims. There were pictures in it, making her cringe at the sight of the mangled and bloated bodies.

She was so far focused on the book that when she heard a crash from somewhere in the bunker, she shot out of her chair with a squeak. "Sam? Dean?" She called out.

When she heard no response, she started walking toward the boy's room. Cursing herself silently, she remembered that she left her weapons in her room so she was going into this defenseless.

Her eyes darted back-and-forth trying to catch a glimpse of something that shouldn't be there.

Stepping up to Dean's room, she twisted the handle and peaked inside. The room was empty. Half of her wanted to sigh in relief but the other half knew that it meant Dean was possibly in trouble. Thankfully, Dean had a large array of weapons in his room. She reached over to the wall and grabbed a knife. It would have to do if she needed it.

Keeping her eyes peeled and her life up, Elizabeth started toward Sam's room. Again, she got the feeling that there was someone there with her and shivers ran up her spine. She froze in the middle of the hallway and quickly turned around. Nothing.

Elizabeth shook her head lightly at her paranoia and decided that finding the boys was the most important thing. Reaching Sam's door, she opened it hoping to find that he was there. It was dark. Dark enough that she had problems seeing inside the room. It was strange because there was light in the hallway and that should have cast some light into the room, but it didn't.

"Oh, I'm going to regret this." She thought to herself. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room.

The first thing that caught her attention where the bodies. Dean was in a crumpled heap against the wall to her right. He had a knife sticking out of his chest as if someone tried to carve his heart out. Sam was laying on his back on the bed, head hanging off in her direction, making his eyes stare blankly at her. There was a puddle of blood underneath him from where his throat was slashed.

On the wall opposite her, there was blood scrawled in big letters. She knew that it was Sam's blood, and that made it more terrifying. As she read the phrase she felt her blood run cold.

"I will always find you."

Her breathing hitched, and the room started to spin. There was nothing she could do to save her brothers, but she had to get out of the bunker and as far away as she could. Letting out a sob, she turned to run down the hallway. She didn't bother putting on real clothes, she would worry about that when she was safe.

As she was running toward the garage, to make her getaway, she felt fingers bunch in her hair and pull. Her head jerked back, and she let out a cry from the pain. "I told you I would find you. You will always be mine." A familiar voice hissed in her ear. "Didn't I tell you there would be consequences for you running away from me?"

Fear pulled at her and she immediately found herself back in that house with Scott. All of the plans and thoughts for her to stay strong flew out the window when his hands were against her. "P-Please. Don't hurt me. I-I'm sorry." She tried to beg. Scott turned her around roughly, keeping his hand in her hair, and crashed his lips to hers. She cried out against his mouth, but it was muffled. The sound seemed to make him excited, because he pried her lips open with his before he jammed his tongue into her mouth. She could feel his tongue exploring her mouth, violating her every second.

He pulled back and looked at her with contempt. When he spoke, his voice was no higher than a menacing whisper. "I've missed you. Let's go play." He grabbed her by the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Her head swayed back-and-forth as she lay in his arms, not fighting. She knew the punishment would be worse if she fought.

At least he can't hang Sam and Dean over her head anymore, she thought.

He carried her into the deepest parts of the bunker. He opened the door to reveal a file room and with one hand was able to move the rack of boxes to reveal a large room. It had a Devils trap painted on the ground and a chair in the middle with shackles hanging from it. There were also shackles along the wall, so they could keep multiple prisoners in the dungeon.

He flung her down into the seat and chained her there. "Now, how are we going to pass the time?" He sneered at her, his eyes traveling down the length of her body.

He moved to the side of the dungeon where there was a small cart sitting in the corner. There was a cloth covering the cart hiding whatever he had there. He saw you glance at it and laughed.

"Oh, I see you found my toys. Do you want to see what I have? Do you want to see how much fun we're going to have together?" Moving to the table, he lifted the cloth to reveal a frightening array of knives and tools.

Elizabeth sat terrified, tears sliding down her face. She knew that it was no use and that fighting would make it worse. So, she just sat and waited, hoping that he would get bored and leave her alone.

Scott picked up a small hammer and caressed it as he walked to her. "You know, you always had the most beautiful legs. Shame." He said as he aimed for her right kneecap.

Elizabeth yawned as she walked down the hallway. She had not seen or heard the boys get up yet, so she decided to go make coffee. Once she had the pot brewing, she stopped. Something about this seemed familiar. She couldn't place it, but she knew this had happened before. Chuckling and shaking her head to herself, she figured it was just déjà vu.

Coffee in hand, Elizabeth turned around and headed to the library. She figured she would do some reading while she waited for the boys. Looking down the hallway, she made note that there was still no sign of anyone, though she felt the back of her neck prickle with uncertainty. Again, there was the feeling of déjà vu. Shaking her head, and pushing the thought away, she continued to the library, hoping to find Sam.

"Sam?" She called out. No answer. "Hmm."

She chose her favorite chair to do research in and sat down, curling her legs underneath her. She picked up the book about Djinn that she had started reading the night before and was focused on the passage about a Djinn that left a blue handprint when she heard footsteps.

"Lizzy?" Dean was rushing up to her, worry marring his face.

"Yes, it is I. Elizabeth. Wait. What's wrong?" She asked, taking in his appearance.

"Listen. We need to get out of here. Uh, okay, so we were hunting this Djinn and you are in a dream right now. We can't vamoose you out of it, but you can do it yourself."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, standing up. He was sounding crazy but then again, he was under a lot of pressure lately.

Dean gave her a look that said he couldn't explain himself any clearer. "Okay, does any of this seem familiar to you? Like weird, hippy, déjà vu?"

"Maybe." She said. "I could have sworn this all seems familiar but then again, stress."

"No! Dammit! Listen to me. We need to figure out what your fear is, so you can overcome it. If we don't you're gonna die." He was looking into her eyes with enough force that it made her take a step back. It was the same look he had when she was sick or extremely hurt. It was the look he had when he took her away from Scott.

"Okay. I believe you. How do we figure it out?" She asked.

He opened his mouth and closed it. He thought for a bit before asking what she feared.

"I mean. Spiders suck and there's always the fear of dying." She shrugged.

"Okay, well we can work with …" He never finished his sentence because they heard a crash. After glancing at each other, they ran to see what it was.

They checked everywhere for the noise but came up empty. Elizabeth wondered aloud if Sam heard it, making Dean run to his room. When they got there, he pulled open the door and they found Sam covered in his own blood, body broken on the floor, and not breathing. Dean rushed into the room and fell to his knees next to Sam.

Elizabeth stood frozen looking at the wall. The phrase that was written in blood made her blood grow cold. "Dean." She whispered. He looked at her with frightened eyes, for a second forgetting that it was a dream and Sam was still alive. He followed her gaze and saw the writing on the wall. "I will always find you."

"Lizzy, what is that? Who did this?" He asked her.

"It doesn't matter. I have to leave. I have to get far away from you." She said backing up.

"Wait! Why? What's going on?" He asked.

"He found me. If I can lead him away he will leave you alone. He'll come after me for sure. I can keep you safe if I just run." She turned to walk away but slammed into a hard chest. Scott looked down on her with a wicked grin.

"There you are, baby. I've missed you." He whispered.

Dean got to his feet, ready to fight. Scott swiftly turned Elizabeth around and held a gun to her head. She hadn't seen him holding a gun but then again, she wasn't looking.

Dean put his hands up in surrender trying to calm the situation down. "Hey, you don't need to do that. Just think about this."

"Baby, why don't you tell him what's going to happen if he tries to help you or you fight me?" Scott spoke loud enough so Dean could hear him.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth looked at Dean. "He will shoot you and make me watch you die." Tears started to slide down her face. "I can't let him hurt you. He can do whatever he wants to do to me, I can't be responsible for you dying. It's already my fault that Sam is dead."

"Lizzy, you know that's crap. Remember what I said? This isn't real! The fear. You can fight the fear." He put a strong emphasis on the word fight. He was trying to get her to understand that this was the answer. The fear that the Djinn latched onto was her fear of fighting and being responsible for the death of her brothers.

Elizabeth looked, at his eyes knowing that he was trying to warn her about something. Ever so slightly, he tilted his head back and smirked. She knew what he wanted her to do but it took her a second to figure out why.

Okay, fear induced nightmare. She thought. She remembered reading lore in the library about the new Djinn. The book had said it used fear instead of dreams and suddenly everything clicked together in her brain.

Closing her eyes, she let her head fall forward before snapping it back hearing the crunch of bone on bone. Scott was so surprised that he lost his footing and stumbled backwards. Before he could react, she kicked out with her leg and made the gun go flying. Her fist connected with his face and he let out a grunt. She brought her knee up and caught him in the groin, making him double over in pain. Taking the opportunity, she grabbed a thick book that was sitting next to the door and smashed him across the face with it. He fell to the floor unconscious and her breathing was erratic.

Elizabeth ran to Dean's side. "Did it work?"

As they looked around they noticed that the phrase written in blood was no longer on the wall. Sam's body was no longer laying on the floor, and there was no trace of him having ever been there. Elizabeth sighed in relief and dropped her head into her hands.

Elizabeth woke up on the ground. Her head was killing her and when she opened her eyes, the room spun. She was in the warehouse where Charlie was being held and where the Djinn had attacked them.

Charlie.

She sat up and looked frantically around the room. Charlie was wrapped in Sam's arms and she was crying. But she was alive. Elizabeth sighed in relief and asked her if she was okay. Charlie nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet. Whatever happened to her while she was under the spell must have been hell.

Sam looked at Elizabeth, relief coating his expression. His shoulders relaxed, and he started to breathe normally. He had no idea what was going through her head as she just sat there on the ground. Her expression was neutral, like she was still dazed.

Dean got off the ground and looked at Sam. "Freaking African Dream Root man. Never again. Especially not twice in two hours." He checked on Charlie before making his way to Elizabeth. He held out his hand to help her up, but she just looked at it. "Lizzy?" He asked her after a few seconds.

She looked at him before getting herself to her feet, not letting him help her. Without a word, she left the warehouse and headed to the Impala. There was no way she was going to let them see her break. She heard Dean call after her but stopped when Sam said to let her go. Elizabeth knew that they were going to have a long talk about what happened, but she wasn't ready for it yet.

Stepping up to the Impala, she ran her fingers over the paint. "Hi baby. It's good to see you. Thanks for waiting on us." She looked closer at the car and noticed that one of the windows were down. Funny. They didn't leave it like that. Peering into the car, she noticed an envelope with her name on it.

That's not creepy at all, she thought. She looked around the area and listened for any footsteps. When she heard nothing, she reached out and grabbed the envelope. Opening it she took out the small piece of paper that it contained.

The red words made her heart jump and she turned to run back to Sam and Dean with the note clutched in her hand.

"I will always find you."


	10. Chapter 10

Elizabeth sat in a chair with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped firmly around them, making herself as small as she possibly could. Sam and Dean sat opposite her in the war room, both wearing looks of concern. Elizabeth had waited until they said bye to Charlie before telling the boys about the note and what she had dreamed when she was under the Djinn's spell. Dean of course, already knew.

When she was done, the boys looked at each other. She saw Sam slump in his chair and take a deep breath. Dean rubbed his hand over his forehead like he was trying to scrub away the stress.

"I know you guys have a lot on your plate. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything to you." Elizabeth spoke in a quiet voice. There was nothing they could do, and with Sam going through the trials, they didn't need anything else to worry about.

"Hey, don't do that. Okay? We'll figure it out." Dean tried to comfort her. He turned to Sam and said, "Why haven't we killed him again?"

"Because I checked after we got her here and he sold the house. We don't know where he is." Sam hadn't told Elizabeth this information. She snapped her head back like he hit her. She didn't know he was missing.

"Great. So, I have a psychopath after me, you are doing these trials that are making you sick, and Kevin is missing. Is there anything that I'm missing?" She asked.

"We'll figure it out. One thing at a time, Ellie. But for now, we think you should stay with us. We don't want you to be by yourself, so if a food run needs to be made Dean or I will go. One of us will be with you at all times." Sam tried to sound comforting, but he was cut off by a coughing fit.

"Sam, I can't let you do that. You're sick and you're not getting better. I'll be fine. Promise." Her eyes flicked to Dean and saw the weight that seemed to press his body down. He caught her eye and immediately sat up straight and smoothed his features, so she couldn't see the toll everything was taking on him.

"You know what, I'm gonna make some food." He said abruptly and went to the kitchen leaving her and Sam alone.

Elizabeth looked over at Sam to see him shaking. He had to be running a fever again, so she fetched a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. "Thanks." He murmured.

He had papers spread out around him trying to figure out what the demon tablet said using Kevin's notes. He had been obsessing over this for a while and even though she tried to help him, she ended up causing more harm than good. Languages and research were never her strong suit.

Dean came back a bit later carrying a tray of food. He set it down in front of Sam and Elizabeth could smell the heat coming from it making her grimace. "Alright, here we go. John Winchester's famous cure-all kitchen sink stew. There you go. Enough cayenne pepper in there to burn your lips off, just like Dad used to make." He said.

When Sam pushed the tray away, Elizabeth couldn't help herself. "Do we need to do the whole airplane thing with the spoon?" She mimicked the sound of an airplane flying and Sam threw her a frustrated glare.

"When was the last time you ate?" Dean asked him, seriously. When Sam couldn't tell him, he said, "Days, Sam. It's been three days."

When Dean tried to take his temperature, Sam had enough and pushed up from the table trying to walk away from the situation. Dean wasn't having it though. "The bloody handkerchiefs, the fever, the shaky legs... this is not good."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows when he decided to be honest for once in his life. "Well, I'm not good. And I'm not going to be good until we can start moving again. Until I can start the third trial."

Elizabeth started to speak but Dean cut her off, giving Sam a disbelieving look. "Trial? I wouldn't let you start a moped. We're on the rails with this thing, okay, and the only way out of it is through it, believe me, I know. And you know how bad I wanna slam the door on all those sons of bitches. But you gotta let me take care of you, man. You gotta let me help you get your strength back." Dean was scared. Elizabeth only had to take one look at him to see that he was terrified. If she was honest with herself. She was too.

Sam looked like he was telling someone their puppy died when he tried to explain how he was feeling. "This isn't a cold. Or a fever, or whatever it is you're supposed to feed. This is part of it all. Those first two trials... they're not just things I did. They're doing something to me. They're changing me."

"What do you mean they're changing you?" Elizabeth could help but ask.

Before he could answer they heard a ringing from the library. It was an email from Kevin with a video attached. Dean opened it and Elizabeth felt her heart stop. He looked so stressed out and he kept glancing around like someone was watching him.

He let them know that if they were watching the video then he was dead. Elizabeth felt her shoulders drop at the news. He didn't deserve this. Kevin started crying and he said, "I'm sorry. I know it was my job, but I— but I couldn't... I'm sorry." That was when Elizabeth broke. Tears started streaming down her face as the video ended and she wrapped her arms around her middle.

Dean swiped a book off the table, sending if flying. "Damn it!" He yelled as he walked away with his hands on his head. He was taking it hard, Elizabeth knew. Without looking at Sam, she walked to her bedroom, trying to keep herself together.

When her door closed, she collapsed on the bed and let herself break. Kevin didn't deserve to go out like he did. He was just a kid and he was their responsibility. Maybe if she stayed with him it would have turned out differently. They should have moved him there. The bunker was safe, and he would have been okay if she had just been smart enough to suggest bringing there.

She didn't know how long she laid on the bed, sobbing. When she calmed down enough that she was no longer shaking, her eyes drooped. It had already been a long day and it wasn't even 4pm yet. Resolving to go to sleep, social norms be damned, she put her pajamas on. Before she could fall asleep there was a knock on her door. Wiping her face she told them to come in. "Hey. You okay?" Sam asked from her doorway.

"I'm good. Always." She said without turning to him.

She felt the bed sink with his weight when he sat down. He placed his hand on her hip, trying to comfort her. "You know you don't have to be okay right? I know that you and Kevin were close."

"I'll be fine Sam. You have enough to worry about, don't spend your time worrying about me." She sniffed.

"Well, I do. Even if you scream at me and push me away, I will always worry about you."

She turned to look at him and saw that he was staring at her. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "You boys are too good to me."

"It's not hard to be good to you, Ellie." He has a small smile playing at the end of his lips. He realized that he was staring intensely at her and cleared his throat. "Look, we have a lead on the third trial, so pack up. You're coming with us."

They pulled up to a large hotel somewhere in Colorado. It looked like nice and all, but Elizabeth noticed there was not a lot of cars in the parking lot. As she expected, the place was pretty empty when they walked in. It was a nice place, it was just empty. This is going to be good, the thought.

The guy at the front desk didn't say a word as they asked for a room. The only indication that he was a real person was when he looked at Elizabeth and Dean confused when Sam turned to them and asked if they heard a noise. Dean laughed it off as Sam having the flu, but Elizabeth walked over to Sam and put a hand on his arm.

"You okay?" She asked.

He shook his head slightly. "Are you sure you didn't hear that?" He looked confused as she shook her head no. Dean told them to go ahead of them to the room while he scoped out the place and gave her one of the two keys.

When they got to the room, Sam collapsed on the bed. He started laughing hysterically when Elizabeth sat next to him. "Hey, you remember that time we were on a hunt and we had to share a bed?" He asked her.

She nodded as he kept talking. "I was so sure that I was going to wake up and you were going to be crushed because I rolled onto you. You were so cute in your little shorts, and I swear Dean was going to punch me when I won rock paper scissors for the bed." He chuckled. "You know, before you woke up, I had to go to the bathroom, so you wouldn't see my morning …" He fell asleep almost as soon as his sentence stopped.

What the actual fuck? Was he serious? Elizabeth shook her head and stared at him. If she didn't know any better, she would say he was drunk.

He sat up suddenly, like he was shocked and reached for the glass of water by his bed. Dean came in with a brochure talking about how the place hadn't had a visitor since '06 and they were the only people there.

Sam laid down again and started talking to Dean. "Hey, you remember when uh... when Dad took us to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, on that pack-mule ride?"

"Oh no." Elizabeth said. Dean gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head.

"The what?" Dean asked his brother.

"And you're, uh... your mule kept farting, just— l-letting go, like, gale force?" Sam slurred.

"Dude, you were like, four years old. I barely remember that." Dean looked so confused.

Sam started laughing and said, "You rode a farty donkey."

Dean looked at Elizabeth and she shrugged. "You wouldn't believe what he said to me. You got off easy."

He raised his eyebrows and then shook his head. "Okay. Uh, I'm gonna go check out the Two Rivers Tribal Museum and Trading Post."

Sam immediately sat up and started slurring his words again. "Yeah. Yeah! [sits up] I'm gonna— I'm gonna, uh. I'm gonna follow the hotel manager, D-Dr. Scowley-scowl. He's like a villain from Scooby-Doo."

"Sam, you need to get some rest." Elizabeth told him. "You're acting a bit weird. I think you might have a fever."

"Yeah, I can do that." He fell back into the bed started snoring. .

Dean looked at Elizabeth with wide eyes. "What the hell?"

"Don't look at me, I got nothing." She said with a shrug.

"Okay, look. You stay with Sam and make sure he doesn't hurt himself. I'll go look around." Dean instructed her as he walked out the door.

"Great." She muttered, looking at Sam. Like she would be able to stop him from doing anything.

She sat for a while just staring out the window, not really seeing what was happening outside. She was watching a squirrel run across the parking lot when Sam jumped up with a groan.

"Sam, you okay?" She asked him standing up.

He didn't answer her as he walked toward the door. She ran to stand in front of him and put a hand on his chest. He was burning up. "Sam, you need to lay down."

He tried to push her out of the way. "Don't you hear it? I need to go find him. He's what matters." He was slurring his words so much that she had a hard time understanding him.

"No. You need to lay down. You're not leaving here." She tried to push him to the bed but was making no progress.

He looked at her like he was confused. "No. I have to go." Despite her protests and the way he was staggering, he conjured up enough force to shove her out of the way. She tried to catch herself but couldn't before the side of her head collided with the edge of the table that sat next to the door. She fell to the floor unmoving as her world went black.

She woke on one of the beds with a splitting headache. She touched her hand to her head and it came away with blood on it. As she sat up she groaned. She was going to kill Sam when she got her hands on him. She looked around to find him and saw that the room was empty. The bathtub was filled with ice and water, so she knew someone had been there.

Dean was going to kill her when he found out she let Sam leave. Sighing, she left the room to try to find Sam. As she drew up to one of the doors, she could swear she heard Sam. He was yelling, "Hey can you turn that down?"

Without thinking of the consequences, Elizabeth pulled the door open to find a room full of books. She had never seen so many books and it took her a second to ground herself. She heard someone talking behind the stacks and decided to go find them.

"You've undertaken the trials. You're trying to pull one of the great levers, aren't you? You're pretty far along, too. You get that far along, you start resonating with the Word. Or with its source on the material plane. With me." He was a short man with graying hair. Honestly, he looked like the kind of guy that would try to hit on her that always talked about her looking like his daughter or granddaughter. Her muscles tensed when she saw that he had a gun on them.

She snuck up behind him and Dean's eye caught hers. He shook his head slightly warning her to stay hidden. She cocked her head to the side in disbelief. He looked at her with hard eyes and she knew if she didn't hide, or at least wait, something bad was going to happen. So, she stepped behind a pile of books and listened to the conversation.

"So you get a ruffle in your feathers and just decide to disappear? Go stick your head in the sand, forever? You have no idea what's been going on out there." Dean asked him.

"Nope. That's the whole point." He answered with what sounded like a grin. From what they were saying, this had to be Metatron.

"So you have been holed up here, or, or, or in a wigwam, or before that in some cave, listening to stories, reading books?"

Metatron laughed. "And it was something to watch. What you brought to His Earth, all the mayhem, the murder. Just the raw, wild invention of God's naked apes... it was mind-blowing. But really... really, it was your storytelling. That is the true flower of free will. At least as you've mastered it so far. When you create stories, you become gods, of tiny, intricate dimensions unto themselves. So many worlds! I have read... as much as it's possible for an angel to read, and I haven't caught up."

While she could understand his passion, it grated at her nerves that he just sat by while so many people died. She was about to step out and give him a piece of her mind about Kevin when she heard Sam's voice.

"You know what? Pull the friggin trigger."

"What?" Metatron asked, confused.

"Pull the freaking trigger, you cowardly piece of garbage." Sam yelled.

"No, Sam!" Elizabeth yelled and stepped out from the stack of books. Metatron tried to point the gun at her, but Sam caught the end of the rifle and pressed it to his own chest.

"All the time you've been hiding here, how much suffering have you read over? Humanity's suffering! And how much of it has been at the hands of your kind?!" Sam was pissed.

Elizabeth maneuvered around Metatron and pushed Sam back. She stood between them and addressed Metatron. "You want a story? Try Kevin Tran's story. He was just a kid. He was a good, straight-A kid, and then he got sucked in to all of this— this angel crap. He became a prophet, of the Word of God. Your prophet. Now, you should've been looking out for him, but no! Instead, you're here, holed up, reading books. He's dead now. Because of you." She felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back. Dean shifted his body until he was between her and Metatron.

Elizabeth peeked around Dean's shoulder to see Metatron gone. "What the hell?" She asked to no one in particular. A few moments later, she heard a thud and turned to see Kevin passed out in the chair behind her.

"Kevin?!" She asked, trying to shake him awake.

"Move." Metatron told her. He rubbed his hands together and then reached to press his hand over Kevin's heart. There was a flash of light and Metatron turned to her and said, "Give him a minute."

Elizabeth sat at his side and held his hand. He looked like he went through hell and she couldn't believe he was alive. She was going to fight tooth and nail to get him to the bunker. To safety.

He opened his eyes and Sam called for Dean. "Kevin? Oh thank God." Elizabeth sighed.

Dean came up and leaned over Kevin. "Hey, we thought we lost you kiddo."

"I'm good. Second half of the tablet. And I got it. Third trial. I didn't tell Crowley." He held up half of the demon tablet as Elizabeth smiled at him.

They were riding back to the bunker in the Impala and talking about the information that Kevin gave them.

"Cure a demon. Okay, ignoring the fact that I have no idea what that actually means, if we— if we do this, you get better, right? I mean, you stop trying to cough up a lung, and, and, and bumping into furniture?" Dean asked his brother.

"And you stop pushing me into hard furniture to make an escape?" Elizabeth let the words slip before the thought about what she was saying.

"Yeah, hey I'm sorry about." Sam started to say but Elizabeth cut him off.

"Stop. You were delirious. It's fine." She said.

"No. It's not." He countered.

"It is if it means you are feeling better." She tried to meet in the middle.

"I feel better, yeah, um, just having a direction to move in."

Dean looked back at Elizabeth with a look that said she needed to shut up. He turned to Sam and said, "Well, good, cause where we're headed doesn't sound like a picnic."

"But we're heading somewhere." Sam said.

"Yeah. The end." Elizabeth couldn't help but remind them.

Suddenly she had to brace herself against the back of the front seat to keep from flying forward as Dean slammed on his breaks.

"What the hell was that?!" She yelled at Dean.

He ignored her as he climbed out of the car, Sam hot on his heels. "Cas?!" She heard him yell.

She jumped out of the car to see the angel laying on the ground covered in blood.

"Cas? Holy hell, what happened?" She asked, running up to him.

"It's a very long story. It's also painful. I need help."

She looked down to see he was cradling his stomach and there was blood lining his shirt. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms under his arm and tried to help him up. She forgot how dense the angel was and had trouble getting him to his feet. Dean shook his head as he walked over to help her lift him.

They deposited Castiel in the backseat while Sam got in the front. Elizabeth turned to Dean as he stood outside the car. His jaw was ticking, and he was taking deep breaths. She heard the story of Cas betraying them and almost killing Dean.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"I'm good." He told her, not even trying to sell the lie.

"It's okay to still be mad at him. But he's your friend and he needs help."

"Don't you think I know that, Lizzy? Why else would he be in the car?" He looked at her like she was stupid.

Her head snapped back in disbelief. "Really? You're gonna treat me like shit because you're mad at him?"

"I didn't mean…"

"I know." She said softly. "Just don't forget that I'm here for the two of you. Even when I get my head bashed in or talked to like I'm a moron."

He looked at her then and reached up to run his finger over her healing cut. "Yeah. I know, kid. Come on, lets go home."


	11. Chapter 11

Since Cas had been at the bunker, Elizabeth found herself avoiding him. She made sure he was okay, for the most part, before she locked herself in her room. She didn't want to be mad at the angel, but she couldn't help but think about the times she prayed to him, only to find radio silence. At first, she thought he was busy and that he would help her later. After a while, she started to think that he just didn't care anymore.

The blame was hers because she didn't leave Scott, but for some reason she was scared to. Never in a million years did she think she would be one of those people that had a sob story about their boyfriend abusing them. Her reason wasn't that she loved him and thought she could change him. It was pure sacrifice and worry about her brothers. Scott had convinced her that there was no way the Winchesters could run from him and the only way to keep them safe was to obey.

She thought about killing him a couple of times, but he promised her that if anything happened to him, he had friends that would pick up where he left off. It was a few days before she thought about Castiel. He could erase memories and literally smite Scott and anyone who was on his list of friends. It was the only way that Elizabeth could see her getting her freedom without endangering the boys. So, she prayed. She prayed through every hit and every curse. The only problem was, Castiel never showed up.

Sighing, she knew she had to face him eventually, so she got up and walked towards the war room. Maybe she could help with some research and ease into talking to him. As she got close, she heard Dean say he was going to make a food run. Of course, Castiel offered to go with him. When Dean ignored him, the angel apologized, making Dean stop.

Elizabeth poked her head out of the corner to see what was happening. Thankfully, she wasn't seen by anyone.

"For what?" Dean asked, shrugging on his green jacket.

It took Castiel a couple of seconds to come up with an answer. "For everything."

"Everything?" Dean asked. "Like, uh…like ignoring us?"

"Yes." Castiel agreed.

"Or like bolting off with the angel tablet, then losing it because you didn't trust me? You didn't trust _me_. How about for abandoning Lizzy?" Dean challenged him. At the sound of your name, you swallowed, and Dean caught your eye. "She was in that house for _weeks_ being tortured by that animal and she prayed to you. I know she did. And you left her there."

Castiel hung his head, "Yes."

"Nah, that's not gonna cut it. Not this time. So, you can take your little apology and cram it up your ass." Dean said in a firm tone.

"Dean, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Yeah, you always do." Dean told him, not breaking eye contact.

Elizabeth decided to go to the kitchen to make some coffee. She needed some caffeine to clear her head and maybe some scotch to dull her senses for a bit. She stood at the counter holding herself up, taking deep breaths. "It's okay. It's going to be fine. Hold it together a little longer." She whispered to herself.

She hadn't realized Castiel had come in behind her until he cleared his throat, making her spin around.

"Elizabeth." He said in greeting.

"Castiel." She never used his full name. She normally called him Cas, but she felt like using his formal name would hurt him, and she wanted to cause him pain even though it wasn't the right thing to do. "What do you want?"

Castiel looked around uncomfortably, trying to decide how to phrase what he needed to say. "I heard your prayers. I wanted you to know, I almost came to you against my better judgement. I am sorry that I could not."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Yeah well 'almost' didn't save me, did it?" She asked him.

He hung his head. "You have to understand, I was on the run with the Angel Tablet and I had to protect it."

"No. You don't understand. You were my only way out of that house."

He looked at her then. "I can offer a small consolation. I know why you were so terrified of him."

Elizabeth stood, arms crossed waiting for his explanation. When he didn't give it to her, she gave in. "Why?"

"Well, he was drugging you of course. Didn't you know?" He asked her.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean he drugged me?" She stepped closer to him, not breaking eye contact.

Castiel tilted his head to the side and his eyebrows knitted together. "He was giving you Corticotropin injections for weeks. It makes you afraid as it releases certain hormones. As he injected it while you were sleeping, you never would have felt it. It was not your fault that you were being irrational."

Elizabeth felt like she couldn't breathe. There was no way he would have done that, right? She looked down at her arms, looking for injection sites but Castiel shook his head at her. "It would have been in a place you would not have seen."

"What would be in a place she wouldn't have seen?" Elizabeth froze when she heard Dean's voice.

Castiel turned to look at Dean. "Her injection sites, of course."

Elizabeth could feel the eyes on her and if felt like her legs were not going to hold her up much longer, so she went to sit down at the table. She wrapped her arms around herself and avoided looking at anyone. Castiel relayed the information to Dean as Sam came in.

She felt Sam sit next to her and wrap his arm around her. "I didn't know." She whispered. Suddenly the headaches and her weakness made sense. She thought it was just because of the trauma she went through, but it was because she was getting the drugs out of her system.

"We're going to take care of this. Okay? We are going to find that bastard and deal with him." He whispered in her ear.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and tried to clear her head. If avoiding problems was an Olympic sport, she would have a dozen gold medals. "So. Did you guys find anything interesting?"

"Uh yeah. We have something we want to watch, it might give us an idea about what it means to cure a demon. Want to come watch it with us?" He asked.

Elizabeth nodded and stood up when he released her. She looked over to see Dean staring at her. He looked like he was trying hard not to hit something, and she knew he was taking Castiel's information hard. She walked up to him putting her hand on his arm. She gave him a small smile, trying to tell him that it was going to be okay.

He cleared his throat and walked out of the room without saying a word.

It turns out that the boys found a video of a new kind of exorcism that ended up killing the host. It basically blew her chest open when they finished. After the film ran out, the four of them sat in stunned astonishment.

"That wasn't a normal exorcism. They changed the words." Sam said, disbelief lining his tone.

"I believe 'lustra' is latin for wash or cleanse." Castiel agreed.

Dean of course could be counted on to supply sarcasm. "Oh, yeah, because that was the most freaky thing was the vocabulary. What about eh bloody high five or the chest burster? Anything else on the film, like director's commentary, sequel, maybe?"

"Yeah, listen to this." Sam brought his computer over. "The older priest, Max Thompson bit the dust in '58, but the younger one is still alive and still in St. Louis."

"Think this kind of weird is worth the drive?" Dean asked.

"I mean, I sure as hell would go figure out what's going on." Elizabeth put in. "That was…different. I've never seen anything like that."

"I agree with Ellie. Everything we've seen in the files is nothing compared to that. That was all new. Yeah, it's worth the drive." Sam told his brother. Elizabeth could tell he was excited about having a direction to go in.

"All right. Let's roll." Dean said getting up. He turned to point to Castiel. "Not you."

"Sam is more damaged than I am." Castiel argued.

"Yeah, well, you know, even banged up, Sammy comes through."

"Dean, I just want to help."

"We don't need your help. Just stay here and…and get better." Dean turned around and started to walk away.

As Elizabeth followed the boys, Sam turned to her. "You're not coming either."

"Wait. Why not?" She asked.

"We need you to stay here with him. And we need you safe." He told her, pulling out his puppy dog eyes.

"I can help." She told him.

"I know. But the best way you can help is to stay here with Cas and maybe do some digging through the archives. See if you can find anything."

Elizabeth sighed, but eventually agreed to stay with Castiel. She couldn't say no to those eyes.

The boys had been gone for a few hours and Elizabeth was sitting at the table in the war room going through the tenth box of information. Her brain felt like it was turning to mush so she decided to take a break. The bunker had been quiet, and she had not seen Castiel since she went to get the 5th box of information from the file room. Deciding to check on him, she went to his room to find it empty.

"Cas?" She called with no answer. She went through the bunker calling his name and she still couldn't find him. Deciding to check outside, she went to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway, was a tall figure. The sudden appearance of the man made Elizabeth jump, until she realized it was Dean.

"You scared the shit out of me!" She yelled at him.

"Well, what are you doing going outside?" He asked when Sam came up behind him.

"I was looking for Cas. I can't find him." She told them.

"Figures." Was all Dean said as he pushed passed her.

"So. Did you guys find anything?" She asked them, avoiding the subject of Castiel.

"Yeah. Did you find out anything about Max Thompson?" Sam asked.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I found some recordings, but I haven't listened to them yet. So, family night? I'll bring the popcorn?" She said, smiling at them.

Elizabeth stood in the warehouse with Sam and Dean. It took a lot of convincing on her part, but she got them to let her go with them to test out the demon cure. The tape they listened to sounded like Father Thompson cured a demon by injecting human blood into the demon and reciting a particular spell. After some discussion, it was agreed that they were going to use Abaddon for their experiment.

Sam had told Elizabeth about Abaddon, and she had to admit, she was nervous. But there was no way she was staying there again. The plan was to sew her head back to her body to reanimate her corpse. It was very Frankenstein of them, but it had to work. Elizabeth helped keep her head straight with Dean while Sam sewed her neck together. It was disgusting, and Elizabeth had to look away a couple of times, but they finally finished, and Abaddon's eyes popped open.

"Morning, Sunshines." She said after cracking her neck and deeply sighing.

Dean was flabbergasted that the plan actually worked and told Sam and Elizabeth that they owed him a beer.

"And I owe you three so, so much. I can't wait to tear out those pretty green eyes and rip out her throat." She said.

"Good luck with that." Elizabeth told her, smirking.

"We figured kitty didn't need her claws." Dean was enjoying this a little too much.

Abaddon jerked around. "Then I'll stump you to death. It'll be swell." She tried to move, but she was stopped.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen, either. The bullet – remember?" Sam reminded her.

"So, you sit there like a good little bitch. We're gonna consecrate the ground, and you're gonna get to fessing up." Dean smirked at her.

"Oh, I know this tune." Abaddon said.

"I really doubt that." Elizabeth said. There was no way she knew.

As if it was a cosmic joke, Abaddon started telling them everything. "Father Max Thompson, born October 12, 1910. Died August 5, 1958. Who do you think ripped him apart? Word got back to home office that Maxie was messing with things, so we made an example. It wasn't my most artful kill, but it was effective. And bonus – before he died, he told me all about Josie Sands. I found her, and I rode her into the Men of Letters. And what I did to them, that was art."

Elizabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So you knew what Max was doing?"

"Fella screamed the basics... but it'll never work." She told the three of them.

"You keep telling yourself that." Dean said.

The silence was interrupted by Sam's cell ringing. He checked the caller I.D. and answered it.

"Crowley." He said in greeting. If anyone could call it a greeting. It sounded more like someone saying the name of someone they hated.

"Crowley? The salesman?" Abaddon asked laughing slightly.

"Try the King of Hell." Elizabeth told her.

"This is a joke, right?" She asked looking appalled.

Sam nodded outside to Dean and Elizabeth. Before going outside, Dean pointed to Abaddon and, unnecessarily said, "Stay."

Once they got outside, Sam put his phone on speaker. "How'd you get this number?" he asked.

Crowley, being an asshole decided to play around. "Ah, first things first – what are you wearing?"

"Oh, okay, hanging up now. Hang up." Dean said.

"Fine. This isn't a social call. I was wondering. You lads been reading the papers, say, Denver Times from yesterday? No? Well, you should. It's side-splitting. What the hell – I'm sexting you an address. Check it out. Then we'll talk. Cheerio."

Without waiting for an answer, he hung up.

"Okay, what the hell is he talking about?" Elizabeth asked a confused looking Sam.

Dean was on his phone looking up the news article Crowley mentioned. "Here it is. Vic's name is Tommy Collins. Tommy. Why do I know that name?"

"Well, Tommy Collins, we saved him from a Wendigo like forever ago." Sam said.

"Okay, and, what, you think that Crowley blew his head off? Well, what are we dealing with here? Some sort of Demon-Wendigo team-up?" Dean asked.

"It honestly wouldn't be the weirdest thing I have heard of." Elizabeth chimed in.

"All right, well, we'll pour one out for Tommy later. As far as Crowley goes, screw him. We got everything we need to put him in a permanent time-out." Dean said as he started to walk back into the building.

Elizabeth waited outside, wanting to clear her head for a minute. As she turned to go back into the building, the boys came up to her looking frantic. Abaddon was gone, and Crowley sent them an address.

"Remember that case in Prosperity, Indiana with the witches that were having a fight?" Dean asked Elizabeth.

"Yeah. The, uh, Starks right? Wife thought he was cheating on her and he saved our asses." She said.

"That's the one. Looks like that's where we are headed. We might be able to catch ourselves a demon." Sam said.

Not needing to hear anymore, Elizabeth climbed into the Impala.

When they pulled up they were too late. Jenny had already been killed and Elizabeth couldn't help but feel rage against Crowley for the horrific scene they walked into. Jenny was in her oven and it looked like she had been cooked.

Sam's phone rang. He answered it and said "What the hell are you doing, Crowley?"

"Oh, Moosie, isn't it obvious? I'm killing everyone you've ever saved – the damsels in distress, the innocent whippersnappers, the would-be vampire chow – all of them. Even your lovely Elizabeth that I have become very fond of."

Elizabeth felt two pairs of eyes look at her. The words he said sent a shiver down her spine. What did he mean, he has become fond of her?

Dean shook his head. "How do you even know –"

"I have my sources and a cracking research team." He interrupted. "When you boys hit a town, you tend to leave a mess. Now, you're probably wondering why my droogs aren't in there giving you the bum's rush, so let's brass these tacks, shall we? I'm gonna gut one person every 12 hours until you bring me the Demon Tablet and stop this whole trials nonsense."

"We don't have the tablet. Kevin took it and –"

Crowley was in no mood to argue. "I took Kevin. Then someone took him back. Word from the cloud is that it wasn't Heaven. So either the cutest little Prophet in the world is with you two lads, or you better find him tout-bloody-suite because time, she is a-wasting. About now, you're thinking of ways to stop me. You won't be able to, but you'll try because that's what you do. You – you try. So, time for an object lesson. Indianapolis, the Ivy Motel, room 116. You have 57 minutes." The line disconnected before anything else could be said.

Dean turned to Elizabeth. "We need you to get back to the bunker. We are going to head to Indianapolis but you need to steal a car and head to Kansas."

"Seriously?" She asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"You're on the list, damn it!" He shouted.

"I am much safer with the two of you. Or do you not remember the last time I was alone?" She let slip before she could stop herself. Sighing, she said. "I'm sorry. We don't have time for this. We need to go, now."

"She's right, Dean." Sam took up for her.

"I don't like this." He said.

Elizabeth helped Dean get the bags out of the car. Before heading into the building, he stopped her. "Okay here's the deal. You are not to be left alone. You are going to follow my orders when I give them. Stay behind me and Sam and don't try to be a hero. Got it?" He told her.

"Awe. Are you worried about little old me?" She smirked at him.

"This is serious Lizzy. You're on his list. It's my job to make sure that nothing happens to you, and I can't fail at that again." He told her.

She looked at him and saw the fear in his eyes. Slowly she nodded her head even though she knew if push came to shove she would step in front of a bullet for him and Sam.

They headed up to the apartment find a woman they met years ago named Sarah Blake. Dean greeted her like an old friend as he put down the bags. Elizabeth had never met Sarah, but she had heard all of the stories. They explained what was going on and the precautions they we're going to put in place. To Elizabeth surprise, Sarah took it all in stride and agreed that they were going to protect her.

While Sam was talking to Sarah about the differences in their lives, Elizabeth was helping Dean put devil's traps around the room. They didn't have long until Sarah was supposed to die so they weren't taking any chances. When the clock read 11:59 pm, the hotel phone rang.

Dean answered it and put it on speaker letting Crowley's voice echo through the room as he counted down from 5. All of them stood at attention holding guns getting ready for the imminent attack. Elizabeth could feel her muscles tense in anticipation and she tried to control her breathing knowing she needed to stay calm. She felt a hand on her arm and Dean subtly pushed her behind him as Crowley said "Uno".

They were expecting someone to bust through the door or someone to materialize to fight. They did not expect to hear Sarah start gasping for air and fall to the ground. Sam fell beside her, trying to calm her down and tell her it was going to be okay.

"She's dying, and there's nothing you can do about it." Crowley told them as if it wasn't clear enough the hell they were in.

"You son of a bitch!" Dean yelled.

"Son of a witch, actually. My mommy taught me a few tricks."

"A spell…it's a spell. Find the hex bag." Elizabeth shouted.

The three of them started tearing apart the room looking for the hex bag. Of course, Crowley, being Crowley, was monologuing, making their stress levels skyrocket even more than they already were.

"I thought of sending in a few of my bruisers, really letting them go to town. But then, well, trial one was kill a Hellhound. Trial two was rescue a soul from the pit. So, from here on, I'm gonna keep everything hell-related – demons, et cetera – away from you." Sarah was still gasping on the floor, turning red. "Safe side and all that – plus, I just thought it seemed fitting. From what I understand, Sammy took that bird's breath away. What's the line? "Saving people, hunting things – the family business." Well, I think the people you save, they're how you justify your pathetic little lives." Elizabeth let out a cry as she tore into the bed, looking frantically. "The alcoholism, the collateral damage, the pain you've caused – the one thing that allows you to sleep at night, the one thing is knowing that these folks are out there, still out there happy and healthy because of you, you great, big, bloody heroes!"

Cushions were being thrown, desks were being emptied, the bed was torn apart. They couldn't find it anywhere. Elizabeth let out a frustrated cry when she pushed herself to keep looking for the hex bag. Where else could it be? It had to be there. Sam had stopped, opting to kneel by Sarah, trying to tell her she was going to be okay even though he knew there was no hope without finding the hex bag.

"They're your life's work, and I'm going to rip it apart piece by piece because I can, because you can't stop me, and because when they're all gone, what will you have left?" Crowley continued.

"No. No, no, no. No. No, please, no." Sam was begging as Sarah stopped moving. Elizabeth could feel her heart stop as Sam pushed away from Sarah's body and collapsed next to the bed.

"You want to keep those people alive. I want complete and utter surrender. The tablet, the trials – you'll give them up, or we'll keep doing this dance. Your choice, my darlings."

Dean having enough, threw the phone against the wall. It shattered, revealing the hex bag hidden in the phone.

Getting back to the bunker, Elizabeth knew the boys were going to want to talk, so she quietly slid out of the war room to the library. She needed a drink, or ten. She decided to skip the glass and bring the bottle with her, taking swigs out of it. She should have helped Sarah. She should have known Crowley would want to keep talking to keep them from looking in the phone.

Then there was the fact that she was on his list. It was widely known that the Winchesters saved her as a teenager and if she were someone trying to get under their skin, she would go after herself. She was the perfect score. Someone they let into their life and they loved as a sister. Honestly, with Scott after her, Abaddon knowing who she is, and now Crowley adding her on his hit list, she didn't know how much more she could take.


	12. Chapter 12

Elizabeth didn't realize how drunk she had gotten but somehow she was stumbling down the hallway to her room. The walls were not staying in place and everything was blurry. She saw a figure walking towards her and it took her longer than it should have to realize it was Sam. She stumbled toward him and only stopped because he was calling her name.

"Ellie, you okay?" He looked concerned.

"Of course. I mean why wouldn't I be? Everything's fine. My ex-boyfriend is looking for me, more than likely to kill me. Crowley has become 'fond' of me. Abaddon is in the wind and she knows who I am now, thanks for that. You look like you are about to fall over dead at any moment. And to top it all off, I can't do shit about any of it because I'm useless. Everything is wonderful. 'm going to get another drink." She slurred, hoping he got all that was said and turned to search for more alcohol.

Sam stopped her by grabbing her arm gently. "Seriously? That's what you think? That you're useless."

"Well, I mean I didn't even stop Scott for beating the shit out of me. I was weak and useless then and I couldn't stop any of this from happening, so I'm still weak and useless."

He shook his head. "You're drunk. Go get some sleep and you will feel better in the morning."

She snapped her fingers and pointed her pointer finger towards him like it was a gun. "Just because I'm drunk does not mean that I'm wrong." She started to stumble away from him when she stumbled and felt a hand steady her.

"Maybe I should help you to your room." He said taking her waist. He led her to her room and placed her on the bed.

Without thinking anything of it, she started to take off her jeans, so she could get comfortable. She really didn't care that Sam was there, they had seen more of each other than they cared to admit. Stitching up each other meant they had to see a lot of each other's skin. Swinging her legs onto the bed, she got comfortable and Sam helped cover her up.

She thought he was just going to go away but she felt the bed dip down as he sat on it. She could tell he was looking at her even though her eyes were closed. "If you look at me much longer, you are going to have nightmares." She said.

He scoffed. "You know, your not useless right?"

"Sam. Just don't." She pleaded.

"No. You need to hear this. You have saved our asses so many times we lost count. That's not useless." He told her.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. "Anyone would have saved you guys. It doesn't make me useful."

"That's shit, and you know it. I don't know what I would do without you and Dean. You two are the only reason I am still fighting against Crowley and literally tearing my body apart, trying to get these trials done." His eyes were boring into hers until she sat up.

"Why? Why the pep talk, and the sacrifice for me?" She knew this conversation would not be happening unless she was drunk, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.

Sam shook his head. "You really don't see it, do you? You don't see how amazing you are."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Yeah, sure. I'm amazing."

"Yeah, you are." Sam said fiercely. "You are the best damn hunter I know besides Dean, you care about people enough to give your life for them, you deal with Dean and I every day without complaint, you try to be extra tough, but I can see the kindness in you every time you smile at a child or calm down a victim, and damn it you are beautiful. I hate that you don't see that."

Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his and wrapped her hands around his neck. His lips were hesitant at first because of the suddenness of the kiss, but then his lips were moving with hers. He let her kiss him for a few seconds before pulling away from her. "No." He said.

She fell back like he hit her, heat rising into her cheeks from the rejection. "I'm sorry. I should have known you didn't…I don't know what I was thinking. Just forget it happened."

Realization hit him that she thought he was rejecting her. "No. I wanted to, trust me. I've wanted to for a long time, but you're drunk. You're not thinking clearly."

"I'm fine." She insisted, but Sam was already shaking his head.

"Get some sleep. See how you feel in the morning. Night, Ellie." He said as he left her alone.

What. The. Actual. Fuck. What just happened?

Okay, Sam was hot, and she knew that from the day she met him. She had a crush on him at one point, but she thought that went away. Wait. Did he say that he wanted to kiss her? Did those words come out of his mouth?

Holy fuck.

What about Scott? What if he found out? He would kill Sam on principle. Oh shit. What the hell did she just do?

In the morning, Elizabeth avoided Sam at all costs. She woke up sober and she remembered the night before. Once, she threw herself into the nearest room when he started coming down the hallway and bumped into Kevin. He started to ask what was going on, but she clamped her hand down on his mouth, shutting him up. She promised to beat him if he said anything about seeing her that morning.

She had thought about her situation and everything that was said and done the night before. She realized that she was going to have to do something if she wanted to change her circumstances. She couldn't let Scott win. So she started forming a plan, but she needed the boys to leave for it to work. She left her room to see if she could convince them to go on a food run or something.

"Hey!" Dean called to her from down the hall. "We need to head out. Sam and I have a plan to stop Crowley without actually stopping the trials. Kevin is going to bring us to the Demon Tablet. You coming?"

"Um actually, I'm just going to chill here." She told him. This was perfect.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is this about what Crowley said?"

"What? No. Of course not, I can handle Crowley. I just want to read up on some lore about the trials. See if we missed something." She said, rather convincingly.

"Alright. Well, stay here and call if you need anything." He told her as he walked away.

"Yes, dad." She called to him eliciting a barking laugh from him.

She headed back to her room for several reasons. First, she wanted to avoid Sam because if she saw him, her resolve would crumble. Second, so she could pack her things. Third, so she could write a letter.

When she was sure the boys were long gone, she grabbed her bag and left the note she wrote on the war room table, so they would see it when they came back. She took another look around the place before swallowing and walking out to the garage to take a car.

Flinging her bag into the passenger side of the car, she sat down and pulled the gun out of her jeans. She checked that the clip was full and snapped it back in place. Knowing her phone couldn't be tracked, she pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number.

It was time.

Sam, Dean, and Kevin came back to the bunker with the Demon Tablet. It was decided that Kevin would stay at the bunker while they went to do the last trial, but they wanted Elizabeth with them. They came in calling her name, but the just heard silence. After calling her name again, Sam noticed the note on the war room table. It had his and Dean's name on it.

"Dean!" He called, opening the note. "She left a note."

 _Sam and Dean,_

 _I know you guys are going to be pissed, but I need you to stow it for a bit. Don't try to call me because you won't be able to reach me. Please don't blame yourselves for what I'm doing, this just is something I need to do on my own. I'm going after Scott._

"WHAT?!" Dean yelled.

"Hush." Sam said, and kept reading.

 _I don't expect you to understand, and right now I know Dean is trying to run out the door to track me down. You can't. You need to finish the trials. I can't help with them and I will just get in the way, but I can take my life back._

 _Dean, I love you. You are the best brother I could have had. I'm coming back and if I don't you have my permission to find me and kick my ass. Take care of Sam. He needs you now more than ever. Help him do these trials, no matter the cost._

 _Sam, I don't regret what happened last night. I have wanted you for years, but I thought you would never see me that way. We will talk when I get back, I promise. I don't know what is going to happen with us, but I do know I have to stop running from Scott and take back my freedom if I want to be with you. You can do these trials and save us all._

 _I love you boys._

 _Elizabeth._


	13. Chapter 13

***A/N at the end of the chapter.***

Elizabeth sat in the bushes to the side of the empty parking lot. The sun was going down along the tree line, which meant Scott would be there soon. It was easy to make him come to meet her. All it took was one tiny phone call and a promise that she saw the error of her ways to make him crawl to her. On the drive to the abandoned factory, she sat thinking about how she was going to take care of him. Should she give him a fair shot to fight her or should she take him by surprise? She thought about how much she wanted to tear into his flesh and beat him to a pulp. He deserved much worse than what she decided on.

There was no guarantee that Scott would actually show and that her plan would work, but she did know that she would go down swinging before she let him hurt her again. She checked her phone to see she had more missed calls and texts. Sighing, she flipped through the texts, reading the frustration from the boys. They had been texting her all day and she read over the ones from this morning.

Dean: Elizabeth get your ass back here NOW!

Sam: Ellie, please don't do this. Let us help you. Call me.

Dean: I'm not kidding. If I have to go find you, I am going to beat the shit out of you. What are you thinking? Are you really that stupid?

Sam: I'm worried about you. Don't do anything stupid, we can help.

Sam: We are going to do the trial. I'm sorry, I can't put it off any more. Please wait until I'm done and then we can meet you and talk about this.

As the day went on, she was getting a picture of what they were dealing with and she had to admit, it wasn't good. They captured Crowley and were going to use him to do the cure, so at least that was one thing off your list of worries.

She was lost in her thoughts when his car pulled into the lot. His door slamming snapped her out of her thoughts and she focused on him. She shifted her shoulder slightly and lifted her body a bit so she was propped up on her arms. She was laying on her stomach with her favorite rifle in her hands. She wanted it to be over, but she was not stupid enough to think she could beat him on her own in hand to hand combat. If she was honest with herself, she felt almost like a coward for using a rife to shoot him long range, but her need for self-preservation overruled that.

He was standing by his car looking for her. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed him.

"Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm on my way, about ten minutes out. I hit traffic. I just wanted to call to talk for a second before I see you." She lied.

"What do you want to talk about? How much you missed me? Because I sure missed you. We have a lot to catch up on, baby." He crooned.

Fighting the urge to gag, Elizabeth calmed herself before answering. "I just want to know why."

"Why what?"

"Why did you change? Why the beatings and the threats?" She asked.

"Hmm. Well, you should know the answer to that. I love you and I want what's best for you."

"And that includes forcing yourself on me and hitting me?"

"You make it sound like I hurt you. I think you're making things up and you know how much I hate that." He warned. "It's okay though. I forgive you. Just come meet me and I will show you how much I care about you."

"I just want you to know that you didn't break me. I win." She said and hung up.

Before he could get his thoughts together, she dropped the phone and gathered the rifle in her hands. She aimed it at him and took a deep breath.

 _BANG_

He fell to the ground and she could see the blood pool from his body. She sat still waiting for movement from him. When it didn't come, she sat up and let out a hysterical laugh. She did it. She killed him. Admittedly, it was probably the most cowardly display anyone ever saw, but it was better than being killed.

She thought about the fact that he told her he had friends that would take care of her and the Winchesters if he ended up dead, but she didn't care. Let them come. They will meet the same ending that he did. She was going to protect her family, and all it took was one drunken night to come to that realization. She felt ten times lighter, knowing that she could go out of the bunker and not have to worry about Scott finding her or the Winchesters. It was worth it. It was over.

Gathering up her equipment, she decided it was best to leave before any authorities came. She stood up and started to head back to her car when she heard a twig snap. Without missing a beat, she dropped to her knees and scanned her surroundings. It was dark and she couldn't see much, but she could feel that she was being watched.

She had two options. She could stay and possibly be discovered, or she could find her way back to her car and maybe get away. Deciding on the latter, she raised her body up enough to walk in a crouch when she felt a kick to the back of her leg. She fell, crying out in pain as her knees collided with the hard ground.

"Hello, Sunshine." She heard a light voice call to her.

Whipping around, she saw the slim figure of Abaddon standing over her.

Shit.

"Well, well. This is an interesting sight. I didn't peg you for murder, but I like your style." Abaddon smirked at Elizabeth.

"What do you want from me?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh sweetie, you think I want something from you? That's adorable. No." She chuckled. "You're not worth anything except maybe as a meat shield or a bargaining chip." She smiled with an evil glint in her eye.

Elizabeth panicked and tried to get up to run away, but Abaddon was faster than her. She felt a kick to her stomach, making her fall onto her back. She tried to catch her breath, but couldn't as Abaddon climbed on her, straddling her hips. She felt punches landing on her face, and she knew Abaddon was taking her frustration out on her.

"You know, I can't have you looking like I treated you too well." She punched Elizabeth again, splitting her lip open. "Those boys have to learn their place, and that starts with you." She punched her again, Elizabeth lost count how many times a punch landed against her skin.

Finally, Abaddon seemed satisfied with her work and pulled Elizabeth to her feet. Elizabeth felt a hand on her arm and then her feet left the ground. It took less than a second for her to feel the crunch on dirt under her boots. Her vision was blurry from whatever Abaddon had done to her and it took her a second to realize she was in front of an old run-down church.

"What the hell is this? Where did you take me?" Elizabeth asked. Letting out a grunt of pain, as she held herself up.

Abaddon didn't answer her. She just grabbed Elizabeth's arm and drug her to the church. Elizabeth tried to fight her, but Abaddon's grip was too firm. When she wiggled, Abaddon gripped her harder, making Elizabeth cry out in pain.

Too soon, Elizabeth was standing at the front doors of the church. She felt her body be hurled into the doors, opening them with a crash. She rolled into a room and Abaddon walked up to her, giving her a kick in the face. The pain was so overwhelming that she didn't understand the words that were being said around her.

Abaddon reached down and picked her up placing her where Sam could see her. Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth tried to focus. She was in a large room that had a devil's trap painted on the floor. Crowley was sitting chained to a chair in the middle of the trap. Sam was standing there, looking terrible. He was sweaty, and it looked like he was about to pass out. His eyes locked with hers and she could see the slight relief cross his face before he realized how much trouble they were in.

He reached for his gun, but Abaddon raised her hand and sent him flying. The jerking motion of Sam being pulled off his feet made his gun fire. She watched in horror as he flew out of a stained-glass window leaving her alone with the King of Hell and a Knight. It took Elizabeth a second to feel the pain. With so many bruises wracking her body, she almost didn't feel the burning in her shoulder.

When she finally felt the pain, she really felt it. It burned worse than anything she had experienced in a long time. She had been shot before, but it always took her breath away when it happened. Sam's rogue bullet hit her in the shoulder sending blood oozing out of the wound. She pressed her hand to her shoulder, trying to keep from bleeding out.

Thankfully Abaddon was preoccupied with Crowley, which gave Elizabeth the opportunity to try to sneak out of the room. Her hand grasped the door handle before she felt herself being flung backward by an unseen force. She hit the wall with a bang, making her head hit the stone. "Nice try darling, but I think I want you to stick around." Abaddon called to her.

Elizabeth looked to see Abaddon standing over Crowley, an evil glint in her eye. "Do you know what I find the most shocking about time-traveling through a closet and landing in the year 2013?" She asked, punching Crowley in the face so hard his chair fell over, leaving him a bloody mess. "Somebody thought it was a good idea to make you the King of Hell." She sneered.

Elizabeth tried to fight against the restraints, but Abaddon gave her a glare, flicking her fingers toward Elizabeth. For a second Elizabeth thought nothing happened, until she felt the gashes run through her stomach making her scream in pain.

"You know what that boy's trying to do, right? He's trying to shut the Gates of Hell." Crowley tried desperately to make Abaddon see reason and Elizabeth was grateful for the small reprieve.

"Right now you and I are gonna talk about regime change." Abaddon ignored Crowley's warning, stuck on the situation in Hell.

"You little whore." Crowley said menacingly, having enough of Abaddon's attitude. "I am you're Ki-" He was rewarded with a kick to his face, silencing him.

As this was going on, Elizabeth saw Sam step into the church. He glanced at her and saw her covered in blood. His face hardened, and his jaw ticked before he turned back to Abaddon who was now facing him. He doused her with holy oil and in true Winchester fashion, had to taunt her. "Love the suit." He said before lighting her on fire.

As soon as she started to burn, Elizabeth fell to the ground. She didn't have enough strength to brace herself, so she fell hitting her shoulder hard on the ground. She heard the screams of Abaddon and smelled the burning flesh that made her stomach turn. Soon, she felt Sam kneeling next to her, helping her off the ground.

"Get him secured first." Elizabeth told him glancing at Crowley. Sam nodded and moved to get Crowley up and back into the devil's trap. When he realized what was happening, Crowley asked, "hold on. Uh, w-what's that?"

"It's what it looks like." Elizabeth muttered to him.

"Are you joking? I just saved your life." Crowley pleaded to Sam.

"Seriously?" Sam scoffed. Elizabeth couldn't believe his nerve.

"Seriously? Me, seriously? We just shared a foxhole, you and I. We beat back the Tet Offensive, outrun the -the Rape of Nanking together! And still you're gonna do me like this?!" He yelled.

Sam didn't even acknowledge that Crowley had spoken as he walked over to Crowley and injected him with his blood.

Screaming, Crowley said, "Aah! Aah! "Band of Brothers"? "The Pacific"? None of this means anything to you? All those motels, you never once watched HBO, not once? "Girls"? You're my Marnie, Moose. A-and Hannah - she just -she needs to be loved. She deserves it. Don't we all - you, me, her - we deserve to be loved. I deserve to be loved! I just want to be loved."

Elizabeth caught Sam's eye and shook her head confused. "What the hell did you do to him?" She asked.

"I have no idea." Sam told her.

Out of everyone, it was Crowley that looked the most shocked and confused. He scrunched up his eyebrows and looked like he was in pain.

Sam ignored him and walked over to Elizabeth. He grabbed her arm and led her outside toward the impala. Once there, he sat her down in the backseat. She looked him over and noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes and he was covered in a thick layer of sweat. If he had been anyone else, she would have thought they were on the verge of death.

"Sam are you okay?" She asked when he crouched down in front of her.

"I'm fine. It's almost over anyway. Let me see what she did to you." He motioned to her torso.

She pulled up her shirt and saw the deep gashes in her skin and the bullet hole in her shoulder. He reached in the trunk for the first aid kit and gave her some bandages. "Put these on the wounds and press on them to make the bleeding stop." He motioned to leave but he stopped and turned back to her. "I thought you were going to die." He whispered. "What were you thinking?"

Elizabeth sighed, "I know I scared you guys. I'm sorry." She paused for a second. "Sammy, I got him. I fucking got him." She looked up at him and saw that he looked horrified.

"What happened? Did he hurt you?" He asked.

"No. I didn't give him the chance. I was a coward and shot him long range." She told him, looking away. "It was the only safe way I could think about ending it. But I might have made a mess with him knowing so many people who can track us and take us out. So, there's that."

Sam got on his knees, which brought him even with her face. He stared at her for a few seconds before taking her hand. "We should talk about the other night." He said, and her heart dropped. "But we should talk about it later, we need to finish these trials. I promise we will talk about it though. And we will talk about Scott and what we are going to do from here. But right now, I need you to stay out here. I can't have you in there distracting me from what I have to do, it's too important and if I'm worried about you, I can't do what I need to do."

"Why would I be a distraction? I can hold my own in there." She told him, raising her eyebrows.

Instead of answering her, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. They were clammy but soft and inviting. Elizabeth didn't expect the kiss, but she recovered quickly when his hands grasped her face gently, pulling her toward him. The kiss was a crushing and desperate one making her feel like she had to savor every moment of it.

Too soon, he pulled away from her. They were both breathing heavily, and Elizabeth had to take several deep breaths before she could speak. "Oh." Is all she could bring herself to say.

"We will talk. I promise." Sam told her before turning and walking back into the church.

Elizabeth sat and kept the pressure on her wounds trying to stop the bleeding. She sat for a few minutes before she heard the rustling of wings. "Cas?" She called out.

To her surprise, Dean and Castiel ran around to her side of the Impala. When Dean saw her, his face screwed up in anger. "Where the hell have you been?!" He yelled before seeing the blood seeping through her fingers. His facial expression dropped immediately into concern. "I don't have time for this. Cas, fix Elizabeth while I stop Sam." He said before running to the church.

"Wait. What? What is he talking about stopping Sam?" She asked, standing from the car.

Castiel walked swiftly up to her, bringing his fingers to her forehead. She felt better instantly. She didn't even check her wounds because Castiel had healed her so many times she knew there was nothing left. She looked at him expectantly.

"I am sorry. I need to go fix my home." He said and left without any explanation.

"Cas!" Elizabeth yelled. When he didn't come back she decided to go see what Dean was talking about. She opened the doors to see Dean standing in front of Sam with a pleading look on his face. Sam's arms were glowing, and he was crying and looked like he was in severe pain. She started to walk but stopped when Dean started talking.

"Hold on, hold on! You seriously think that? Because none of it - none of it - is true. Listen, man, I know we've had our disagreements, okay? Hell, I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you." The desperation in Dean's voice made Elizabeth want to cry. She had no idea what was going on but she knew it wasn't good.

Sam looked at his brother looking like he was deciding something. He glanced at the door, seeing Elizabeth standing there and she knew she looked terrified. "How do I stop?" He asked his brother.

"Just let it go." Dean told him, sounding relieved.

"I can't…It's in me, Dean. You don't know what this feels like." Sam told him.

Dean walked forward and wrapped a bandana around Sam's hand. Elizabeth had not realized it was bleeding. "Hey, listen, we will figure it out, okay, just like we always do. Come on." He pulled his gigantic brother forward into him, hugging him tightly. "Come on. Let it go, okay? Let it go, brother."

Elizabeth watched as the glowing in Sam's arms started to become less intense. He pulled away from Dean, getting his attention. Elizabeth ran to Sam and wrapped her arms around him. She was still confused, but from the conversation she could tell that the trial was going to harm Sam more than they thought it would. She released him and he looked at her and smiled. The smile only lasted a second before he was doubled over in pain. "Sam?!" Elizabeth yelled, trying to catch him before he hit the ground. Dean grabbed his other side and helped her lift him, dragging him outside.

"Sam? I got you, little brother. You're gonna be just fine." Dean told his brother trying to comfort him. Elizabeth could hear the desperation and fear in his voice and she glanced at him seeing the panic in his face.

They got him to the Impala but before they could open the door to get him in the car, he lost the ability to stand, even with help. He hit the ground, bringing Elizabeth with him. "Sam?! Sammy, what's wrong? What can I do." Elizabeth yelled at him.

Dean was calling his brother's name as Sam groaned in pain. "Cas?!" Dean called for the angel, terrified. Sam started wheezing and it looked like he couldn't breathe. "Castiel?! Where the hell are you?" Dean shouted.

Sam started gasping and Elizabeth shook his shoulders. "Sam! Talk to me. Please, don't leave me. Sam!"

The sky lit up with hundreds of shooting stars. "No, Cas." Dean said. Elizabeth looked up to see one of the lights hit the lake across the field, making her jump. She turned her terrified eyes to Dean. "What's happening?" Even to her own ears, she could hear the terror in her voice. She didn't realize she was shaking until Sam grabbed her hand and they trembled together.

Sam started breathing raggedly again and he squeezed Elizabeth's hand. She didn't know if he was trying to give or get comfort, but she was glad that she had his hand to hold through this. It made her feel less alone and desperate.

"Angels." Dean said. "They're falling."

****A/N****** Hello lovelies! So. Here is the end of Season 8. I'm not sure where to go from here but here is a lot that could happen. If you would like for me to venture into Season 9 with Elizabeth, I will do that. If not, the fic will end here. Please comment if you are wanting a continuation to this story. If I don't get any responses, I will consider this to be done.

Also, I start work this week and next week is GISH so I will be devoting my time to Misha, sorry not sorry about that one. My updates will become a little less frequent. I will update as much I possibly can though. (If I get responses for a season 9 continuation)


End file.
